Son of a Malfoy
by WeasleySeeker
Summary: When the Yule Ball returns to Hogwarts, can Rose Weasley pluck up the courage to ask out Scorpius Malfoy despite their disapproving parents or can a love between two people from two different worlds just never be?
1. The start of it all

_Hi everyone, this is my first fic in a while so please review! Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original HP characters, they belong to my queen JKR _

The atmosphere in the Burrow sitting room was surprisingly calm given the number of people there – all of the Potter and Weasley aunts, uncles and cousins plus Teddy Lupin, who practically counts as a Potter cousin – and the fact that the next day we were all returning to Hogwarts. Victoire and Teddy were snuggled up in a corner, and James kept eyeing them up sneakily – he was probably trying to pick up tips, he so clearly fancies Caitlin Finnigan. Next to him Louis, looking annoyed, was trying to get him to concentrate on their game of Wizard's Chess. On the other side of the room Dominique, Fred, Albus, Lily and Hugo were playing Exploding Snap. Meanwhile me, Roxanne and the twins, Molly and Lucy, were eavesdropping on the adults' conversation. Dad and Uncle George were trying to get Uncle Percy and Mum to spill about something to do with work, I think.

"Come on, tell us," pleaded George, "we're grown-ups now." Angelina smirked and Mum did an odd sort of snort that she tried to pass off as a cough.

"You," declared Aunt Angelina, "will never grow up."

"What do you think they're talking about?" whispered Roxanne in my ear.

"Dunno," I replied, "but it can't be interesting if it's about work."

"True," she said, disappointed.

"It's highly confidential," said Percy snootily, "the plans have not been confirmed yet."

"Oh for heaven's sake," sighed Uncle Harry, "it won't be that life-changing!"

"I'll have you know that International Magical Co-operation can be very life-changing!" Uncle Percy retorted. "And how do you know about it? It's way outside your department!"

"Wood," Harry answered simply.

"Oh that useless excuse for a head of department!" exclaimed Percy.

"That's what you said last time," giggled Mum.

"Ooh, is this what I think it is?" asked Dad excitedly. Percy gave Mum an evil look before saying "Modified. A lot less risk than last time, you remember what happened the last time it was hosted at Hogwarts? Well, obviously," he said, nodding at Uncle Harry for some reason. But Mum had noticed our ears prick up at the word "Hogwarts", whispered to Dad "Rosie's listening", looked at her watch and proclaimed: "It's time for bed, kids."

A collective groan filled the room and everyone except Teddy, Victoire and Dominique, who were allowed the privilege of a later bedtime now that they had left school, slowly began to pack up what they were doing and leave, with some persuasion from the adults. For once, I went quietly and so did Roxanne, because we had seen the glint in Fred's eye and knew he had something up his sleeve. Molly had seen it too and had an exasperated look on her face – out of Percy's two children, she was the most like him and would never join in with any of our tricks and mischief. Lucy was always up for a laugh though; she had some of the Weasley spark that Fred had in bundles.

Once Mum had pushed the little ones to bed and we were supposed to be brushing our teeth, Fred handed out the Extendable Ears, saying, "It's a good job I carry a stock of these around with me." Then Mum started coming down the stairs and we all sprinted into the kitchen to hide, exploding into silent giggles like seven-year-olds. Then we all grappled for a slot under the door to slot our Extendables under the door and I got mine in just in time to hear Dad ask, slightly more obviously (although subtlety was never his strong point) "So is it the Triwizard then?" Comprehension dawned on everyone's faces – we had all heard the story of Uncle Harry and the Triwizard Tournament.

"No, not exactly, but something based around the idea," explained Uncle Percy. "Of course the Triwizard is far too dangerous to repeat, the death toll is far too high for us to even consider reintroducing it, but the International Magical Co-operation side to things is second to none. We're going to have a repeat of the Yule Ball."

For some reason, Aunt Ginny started laughing hysterically. "What?" asked Dad indignantly.

"The scowl on your face Ronald," she laughed. "Wasn't exactly the best night of your life was it? Padma abandoning you and having to see Hermione with Krum all night?"

"Shut up," he growled. "And what are you laughing at Hermione, you were exactly the same with Lavender." Roxy and I exchanged looks; it was weird hearing our parents talk about their exes!

"Who did you go with again?" Dad asked Ginny.

"Neville," she smiled. We all exchanged grimaces – our aunt dating our Herbology teacher? "And Harry having to open the dancing with Parvati – he didn't have a clue!" Our grimaces turned to looks of pure horror. We had to dance? "And Hermione's first kiss," she sighed reminiscently. Roxy stifled a giggle at the look of disgust on my face – did I really want to know? Apparently Dad felt the same because he demanded "WHAT?"

Later that night in the room we shared with Lily, who was fast asleep, me and Roxy talked about who we might go to the ball with. "Lorcan," sighed Roxy.

"Roxy, he's in seventh year, he would never want to go with a fourth year," I reasoned with her. "Besides, do you really want to be seen with someone who walks around reading an upside-down Quibbler?"

"No, that's his younger brother Lysander," she said, rolling her eyes at me. Of course, I thought, Lysander was the weird one in our year. "But Lorcan is hot! Who are you going with then Rose?"

"No idea," I said, not entirely truthfully. "Some of those foreign guys might be good-looking."

But I would never admit to anyone that at that moment in time, I was being transported back to the train in my first year. I was sharing a compartment with cousin Roxy and Ollie Longbottom, and our stomachs were heavy with the combination of excitement about leaving home and experiencing for the first time that magical place that our cousins had told us so much about with the nerves about the Sorting and the classes and the teachers. A shy, pale, lost-looking boy wandered past several times. Then I did something very brave and very stupid that was the start of it all. My dad told me to stay away from him. But I was leaving home, a place where I had always been the good one, the innocent one, the image of my mother. I wanted to do something reckless. The fact that he was the son of a Malfoy made it all so much more exciting.

That was the start of my infatuation. Dreams of forbidden love infected my dreams as I drifted off into an uneasy, depressed sleep.


	2. Nobody can ever know

Thank you for the reviews! :) Not the most interesting chapter but hopefully the next one should be more exciting!

Craning my neck out of the window, I watched the bustle of Platform 9 ¾ zoom into the distance, leaving behind the smiling or teary-eyed relatives. My parents were the former – I was going into my fourth year so they had done this all before many times. There still always had to be an owl sent on with everything Hugo had forgotten though, bless him.

Me and Roxanne took seats in our usual compartment with the other Gryffindor fourth years that we shared a dormitory with – we usually hung round with the same group at school although we weren't really best friends – and the chatter of holiday romances and Quidditch matches broke out, but as I hugged my best friend Tara Wood, I was not in the mood.

Sometimes the presence of too many girls can be quite tiresome and you need a boy or two to dilute the feeling and when that thought occurred to me, it also occurred to me how much I would prefer to be spending this time alone with Scorp.

My mind began to relive some of my favourite moments with him: moonlit walks in the Forbidden Forest, stolen moments between classes, that time when we stumbled across the Room of Requirement and Kreacher provided us with a three course meal and finally, most poignantly, the time when we first met on the train. But all these moments had just been as friends. I wanted more; I would always want more.

And there he was – I noticed he had changed over the summer: he had grown about three inches and his face shape had changed – he looked even more handsome than he had as a young boy. He walked past the compartment and caught my eye and I was hit by an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. I opened my mouth and was about to mention this to Roxanne when I stopped myself just in time – she hadn't noticed it so why should I? She would have been on the lookout for who I really fancied after the less than satisfactory answer I had given her the previous night. I could not let her guess – she can never know. Nobody can ever know.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" asked the witch with the food trolley, and I awoke from my daydream with a start.

"No thank you," I said politely, and the others turned round and stared at me. Everyone knew I was just like my dad except with my mother's brains, which unfortunately meant I had also inherited my dad's appetite!

When everyone had got over this and the meaningless chatter resumed, Tara turned round and asked, in a low voice, "Are you sure you're ok? How was your summer?"

"I'm fine," I lied quickly, but Tara was not convinced. "Ok then, I'll tell you later," I said, with a meaningful look at the others. Of course I wouldn't tell her the truth, but this gave me time to come up with some kind of story.

As the view outside the window became more wild and remote, we knew that we must have been getting close to Hogwarts, so we got changed into our robes. Soon enough, the train pulled up in Hogsmeade Station and the chaos resumed. Traffic jams in the corridors were punctuated by the indignant hoots of owls and the shouts of pain from people having their feet stepped on. Stressed-looking prefects, including my cousin, Molly, were trying to keep order. When we finally stepped out onto the platform, booms of "Firs' years over 'ere!" carried over the heads of the crowd and I saw Lily and a few other small-looking girls nervously hurrying over to Hagrid, awaiting the traditional boat trip across the lake. Lily's expression was teetering on the edge of nervous excitement.

Meanwhile, everyone from our compartment piled into one of the horseless coaches meant for the rest of the school and we set off towards Hogwarts. It was a crisp, late summer evening and the sky was that blood red colour that precedes sunset. I stared out of the window in awe, and didn't understand why nobody else seemed bothered by it.

On entering the Great Hall, we made our way towards the Gryffindor Table and my head was filled with the buzz of excited chatter as friends were reunited after a whole summer apart. But I was quiet and Tara asked me again: "Rose, you really don't seem yourself. Are you sure you're alright?"

I nodded. "I just don't feel too well, that's all." I could tell from Tara's expression that she did not believe me, she knew me too well. However, she had got the message that I didn't want to talk about it and let it drop.

Suddenly, the oak doors creaked open and Hagrid led a line of nervous, shivering first-years (one of the boats had obviously capsized again) to the front of the hall. Professor McGonnagal, our headmistress, called out names and placed the oversized Sorting Hat on each child's head, after which it would call out a house to the hall, which would applaud. I clapped half-heartedly as my cousin Lily and several others joined us at the Gryffindor table and soon afterwards, the golden plates filled with food, to the general awe of the first years.

When everybody (except me) was full and the plates had magically been cleared by the house-elves in the kitchens below, Professor McGonnagal stood up and silence fell over the room.

The silence around the hall became diluted as people began to whisper and fidget, bored by the usual start-of-term announcements. McGonnagal sensed this and stopped, waiting for silence to fall again. Then she resumed.

"Now this year, the Ministry has decided that we do not have enough contact with foreign students, and they wish to promote international magical co-operation…" Roxy and I exchanged smirks, thinking of Uncle Percy "…by having students from Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy visit us at Christmas for a Yule Ball." There was a collective gasp around the room, mostly by excited girls. "This is open to fourth year and above –" there was an indignant moan from some of the third year girls "– unless you are invited by an older student. Remember, this is meant to be an opportunity to promote relationships between countries so you should be trying to get to know some of the people from the other schools. Right, enough of me, time for bed."

The scraping of the benches signalled the school's dismissal. I tried to rearrange my face so I looked excited like the rest and prepared myself for the tiresome talk in the dormitory that night.


	3. Enough for now

The morning dawned clear and bright as I woke in my four-poster bed, and I found myself feeling a little better about everything. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 6am. I knew now that I had woken I would not be able to get back to sleep again, and as I was an early riser anyway, I put on a hoody over my pyjamas and decided to take an early morning stroll. Careful not to wake any of the others, I crept out of the dormitory, through the Fat Lady's portrait (she gave me a disgruntled look) and down the stairs and out of the magnificent oak front doors.

After walking part way across the grounds, I decided to go and visit Hagrid. I often paid Hagrid a visit when I was feeling depressed, and although I obviously couldn't tell him why I was feeling down he could at least attempt to cheer me up.

However, as I made my way past the greenhouses, I spotted a pale figure coming the other way. Scorpius! Calling his name, I rushed over to him and I knew that my face mirrored the look of delight that lit up on his. We hugged but then I let go quickly, leaving an awkward silence. This was different. Usually Scorpius was the easiest person to talk to.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, breaking the silence as though it was never there. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I was going to see Hagrid, but thinking about it maybe it is a bit early. You'll do," I teased.

"Oh," he said, looking slightly confused. "What did you want?"

"Company," I said simply. The confusion slid from his face and it lit up again. "What were you doing anyway?" I asked.

"Just walking," he said. I was suspicious, but too happy to see him to bother pressing the matter.

We made our way towards the lake and found a spot to lie in the luscious grass, the beech tree shading us from the weak but glittery early morning sun. We lay, hand in hand, in silent companionship. _Maybe this is enough_, a voice in my head insisted. But another voice added slyly: _for now_.

I arrived back in the dormitory an hour later to find the other girls just starting to stir.

"Where have you been?" asked Tara.

"Just on a walk around the grounds," I told her. She looked suspicious, but didn't say anything in front of the others. All last year she had suspected something but never confronted me about it.

"It's so unfair, how can you be able to get up so early?" moaned Alana, Roxy's best friend, who was notorious for her inability to get out of bed in the morning.

"Dunno," I laughed, "inherited I guess."

Tara smiled at me before saying in a low voice, "I'm glad you're feeling better Rose, I've missed you."

I smiled back and said, "I'm back for good. Ready for some mischief!" Alana rolled her eyes.

Twenty minutes later, the others were finally ready and we went down for breakfast. Suddenly I realised I was starving, and filled my plate with sausages, bacon and baked beans and began to eat ravenously.

"You're definitely back to normal!" laughed Tara.

"How can you eat so much and stay so skinny?" demanded Alana. I shrugged.

"Play lots of Quidditch?" I suggested. This was true – I had been a Gryffindor Chaser for the past two years and played a lot with my cousins in the holidays.

Soon we were interrupted by Professor Hope, new Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor house, who was coming down the table handing out timetables. She handed me mine and I saw that today I had History of Magic (may as well be a free lesson with Professor Binns as our teacher), double Charms, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. My stomach did a back-flip when I saw that we had Charms with the Slytherins, but then I realised that I would have to pretend that I didn't know or have any feelings for Scorpius, and that could be difficult if I had Roxy and Tara on the lookout.

History of Magic passed with no event. I played hangman with Tara instead of listening to Binns – Lucy, who was two years above me, always lent me her notes before exams (well, Molly's notes that she had copied). The bell went and we all packed up without waiting for Binns to finish his sentence and set off for Charms.

I never made an effort in Charms – Professor Flitwick was so old and doddery now that he never bothered to report my bad behaviour, and I always aced the exams anyway; it's such an easy subject. But I had an unpleasant surprise when a new face emerged from the teacher's office.

"Good morning class, I'm your new Charms teacher," the man announced. "My name is Professor Clark and today we will be practising the Summoning Charm. The incantation is 'Accio!' Now, choose something from around the classroom to Summon, and off you go!"

He looked like he was just out of training and it was clear that he had no idea what he was doing – asking us to Summon whatever we wanted was obviously a recipe for disaster! A tiny part of my brain longed to take advantage of this, and the sight of Scorpius chatting and laughing with the Slytherins caused that part of me to become much more prominent – I was getting that urge for recklessness that I so often got around Scorpius.

Tara saw the Weasley glint in my eye and tried to plead with me. "Rose, no! He's new and you have no idea what he's like – please keep your head down just for this lesson so that you can get to know him!"

"Oh don't worry about me, Tara," I smirked, and stood up, a plan formulating in my mind.

There was so much chaos around, as per usual in a Charms practical, that nobody much noticed me until I said, in a loud, ringing voice, "Accio Professor Clark!" There was a collective gasp from the class as Professor Clark zoomed through the air towards me, his arms and legs splayed out comically, and landed flat on his face with a loud 'thunk'. People around me started laughing and my heart leapt when I saw Scorpius chuckle. Professor Clark, however, was not amused.

"When I said anything in the classroom, I expected you to be sensible about it, you're not a first year!" he yelled, and I smirked, he looked so ridiculous when he was angry. "Although I must congratulate you on Summoning on your first attempt, not many fourth years can do that," he added grudgingly.

"Well then, I don't see why I have to be here then," I declared, egged on by Scorpius's laughter. "Charms is an easy subject, it's only for stupid people."

Professor Clark's face went bright red as he lost his temper again.

It had all gone downhill from there, and I had left the classroom having lost thirty points from Gryffindor and having gained a detention and a meeting with Professor McGonnagal that evening. I knocked on her office door, feeling slightly sheepish. "Come in," she sighed. I entered and she looked across the room at me, sternly and disappointedly.

"A meeting with me on the first day of term? Well, well, this isn't a good start, is it Miss Weasley?"

"No," I answered uneasily, not sure how to respond. "Sorry, Professor."

"Yes, well it's really Professor Clark you should be apologising to, isn't it Miss Weasley?" she said sternly.

"Yes, of course," I said.

"Behaving that way towards a member of staff on their first day! You should be ashamed of yourself Miss Weasley." She looked stern for a moment or so, but then surprisingly, incredibly, a smile broke out on her face. "Miss Weasley… Rose… I have always thought from your teachers' reports that you have your mother's brains – and incidentally if you still feel the classes are not providing enough challenge for you we can discuss this further – but I have always thought you had your father's attitude. Now, reassessing, I think you have an attitude to rival your uncles, Fred and George. You may go."

And she waved me from the room, still smiling, ancient memories flooding her thoughts.


	4. A different language

The sky was a dull grey, closer to black really, and the rain was lashing down from the clouds, so powerfully that I could feel the force of it as my broom struggled not to be blown off course by the vigorous wind as I streaked along the pitch towards the goalposts. Looking around at the rest of the teams' expressions I could tell that they were also feeling the ridiculousness of continuing the training session, but when James Potter wanted something done, he would not rest until it happened.

I reached the hoop and shot; Tara (who was the Keeper) lunged for the ball and missed it, but the shot was off-target anyway.

"James," I pleaded, "this is getting ridiculous; none of us can see a thing and we're getting soaked to the skin!"

"No, I said we would finish the penalty shootout and we will if it's the last thing I do!" he exclaimed, but I saw the doubt cross his face and knowing that I'd seen, he sighed and gave in. "Ok, but we're carrying on for an extra half hour next time!" There was a collective groan from the team and we trudged back up to the castle, bedraggled, filthy and completely exhausted.

3 hours, one warm shower and a Herbology essay later, I was letting out my feelings to Scorpius in one of our favourite meeting places when it rained, inside the small dingy passageway of the one-eyed witch in the third-floor corridor, just talking in the wandlight.

"I mean, I know the match against Slytherin is next Saturday, but seriously, he must know that persevering in those conditions isn't going to make us improve, it's just going to tire us out and make us unfit for the match!" I exclaimed vehemently.

"Mmm," Scorpius replied, a glazed expression on his face. He seemed distracted lately; I could not understand what the matter with him was. Usually I could read Scorp like an open book, but recently it had seemed like he was thinking in a different language. Then the expression disappeared as though it had never been there, and he ruffled my hair affectionately, saying, "I think you would make a good Quidditch captain, Rosie. You have the right sort of temperament," he teased.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I huffed, pretending to be offended. "And incidentally, I hope you will be supporting Gryffindor," I teased back playfully, "Call yourself a friend, supporting the opposite team to the one your best friend plays in!" And then I saw it again, the momentary fall of his face when I said the words "best friend". "We are best friends, aren't we?" I asked uncertainly. Scorpius recovered almost instantly.

"Of course we are," he declared, his face decorated with the cheeky smile I loved so much. "We're here aren't we? It's just that I can't exactly put on a Gryffindor scarf and cheer with your supporters, can I? Somebody would be bound to suspect something."

And although I knew he was right, I could just tell that the change in his expression was definitely not for that reason.

Over the next few weeks, Scorpius became more and more distant during our nighttime meetings, and I began to worry that he did not want to be friends any more. Also, as the Yule Ball was nearing, people began to pester me about who I was going with and I didn't want to go with anyone, considering that I couldn't go with the person I really wanted to. These two things combined meant that I was losing sleep and appetite from worrying and also my grades were slipping, something that had never happened before, earning me another meeting with Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Weasley," she sighed, "I am starting to get the feeling that I am seeing too much of you. Yes, your behaviour has improved, but not in the way that I would have liked. I am having reports from teachers that although you have not been rude, you have been withdrawn, and rarely spoken in lessons. Also, you are a very bright student, one of our best, and some of your recent essays are barely scraping "Acceptable". That, I am afraid, for you, is unacceptable."

I bowed my head. "Sorry, Professor," I muttered. She sighed.

"Miss Weasley… Rose… is there anything you wish to talk to me about? It will not leave this room."

I looked up, startled. "No. Why should there be?"

"Well, there must be a reason for this sudden drop in achievement. Is everything alright at home?"

For a moment, I considered pouring my heart out to her, telling her everything that had been bothering me from September until now. My feelings towards Scorpius, how he seemed to be losing interest, how I had to keep it a secret from everyone and how it was eating away at my insides. Then I knew that if I told her, she would be all sympathetic on the outside, but on the inside she would just think of me as a silly, lovesick little girl.

"Everything is fine, Professor," I lied, and turned to leave the office.


	5. You're the judge

I woke early the next morning, feeling more depressed than ever, and decided to take a walk to the Owlery to visit my beautiful tawny owl, Venus. When I had climbed the endless winding staircase, I entered and she immediately fluttered onto my arm, hooting softly. I ruffled her feathers affectionately and smoothed them out again, lifting myself up onto a ledge where I perched for a while. Venus took my mind off things; I felt almost content sitting up there, away from the rest of the world.

I was disappointed, therefore, to hear footsteps coming up the spiral staircase towards us. The door creaked open and Tara walked in, and when she saw me, her weary face broke into a smile. Despite everything, so did mine, and at that moment I was overly happy to have her as my best girlfriend.

"Hey," I said, and the relief obviously showed in my voice because she smiled knowingly as she came and sat up beside me, and asked, "So when are you going to tell me what's been bothering you all year?"

"Nothing's been bothering me," I lied, although I knew there was little point.

"You can't fool me," Tara declared. "I know you, Rose Weasley, and I know that there is something wrong."

For one crazy moment I considered keeping it secret, letting this all-consuming secret that I had kept bottled up for three and a half years continue to eat me up and sabotage my life. Then I sighed and gave in. It had to end somewhere.

"Ever since first year, I've been meeting Scorpius Malfoy in secret. We're best friends, nothing more, but I think he wants to end it." And then the tears came, and they didn't stop. Through my tears, I poured it all out, the full story, from beginning to end.

When I had finished, Tara didn't speak. Then she said: "Rose Weasley. I think you're in love with the son of a Malfoy."

"I think I am," I sniffed. "What shall I do?"

"Talk to him," she said simply. "Tell him how you feel, you can't keep this inside any longer. If he feels the same, then great. If he just wants to be friends, you can cry a little, but you'll get over it and find someone else. If he wants to stop being friends because of his revolting Slytherin pride, then he's not worth your tears, Rosie."

I looked daggers at her when she mentioned Slytherin. "Don't say that. You're judging."

"No I'm not," Tara began, but I cut across her.

"You're judging him because he's a Slytherin. This is why I haven't told anyone, because I knew they would all have this reaction. And then I trust you, and you–" But Tara held out a hand to stop me.

"I don't know him, I can't judge," she said gently. "You know him, you're the judge. You decide."

Suddenly, I felt a whole load better. I gave Tara a big hug and said, "Thank you so much."

"That's what friends are for," she smiled.

"Now it's your turn," I announced. Tara looked alarmed.

"What?"

"Don't try and pretend you weren't looking a bit sorry for yourself when you came through that door," I said firmly. "Come on, tell me, it's only fair."

She took a deep breath and was about to speak when the door banged open and a Slytherin seventh year came striding in.

"Later," I said, defeated. "Spill."

After breakfast, Tara and I had Ancient Runes; we were the only ones from our group who had taken it so this would be a good opportunity for us to have a private conversation about whatever Tara had been about to tell me. However, my plans were foiled when Scorpius approached me in the corridor, on his way to Arithmancy, which he had taken instead of Runes.

"Weasley, come here a minute," he demanded. I was not put off by the use of my surname – this was the usual persona he kept up in front of other people. I nodded for Tara to wait a few metres away and then he spoke quietly, even though we were way out of earshot from anyone else.

"I need to talk to you," he said urgently.

"Go ahead then," I replied, "it's only Runes, I don't mind being late."

"No, I mean really talk to you," he said, "it will take much longer than five minutes. Meet me by Barnabus the Barmy's tapestry at ten o'clock tonight and we can go in the Room of Requirement." My heart sank at these words. He needed to have a serious talk. This could only mean one thing. I nodded my agreement and went back towards Tara, knowing that if anything else happened today I would not be able to hold back the tears any longer.

"Want to talk about it?" Tara asked. "You take priority right now!"

"When she's got the class started," I said. I could feel the burning feeling in my throat and eyes that meant tears were imminent, but I had them under control for the time being.

We were meant to be working in pairs on a translation, but Tara and I cast the Muffliato charm (one my dad had told me is useful for having private conversations in lessons, but told me not to tell my mother) on the people around us and talked about Scorpius.

"So what did he say?" she asked urgently.

"That he has to have a serious talk with me," I almost sobbed. "This is it, Tara. He's going to say we can't be friends any more." A stray tear came streaking down my cheek. I wiped it away hastily. I was not going to break down in front of the class.

"That's it, he's not worth your tears," she assured me. "Listen, the way I see it, he's a stupid swine whatever the reason – either it's the whole Slytherin pride thing, or he's met another girl and can't be friends with you as a result, which is just as bad if you ask me, some people just can't accept that guys and girls can be friends." I nodded; that had not consoled me. Tara sighed. "Look, Rosie, whatever happens tonight, don't cry in front of him. You can't let him see you cry."

Time seemed to crawl for the rest of the day. Sitting in the common room that evening, I was doing a Charms essay – the subject I didn't have to concentrate to do well in – and after the end of every sentence looked at my watch to see that a minute or less had passed since I last checked. Eventually Tara took it off me because it was annoying her so much, assuring me that she would tell me when it was 9:50 so I could be in time for Scorpius.

Studying the Marauder's Map carefully (this, along with the Invisibility Cloak, was practically a communal mischief-making facility in the Potter-Weasley family, although I had mastered the Disillusionment Charm so didn't need the Cloak), I made my way out of the portrait hole and along the corridor towards Barnabus the Barmy's tapestry and saw Scorpius already there, early as usual. He looked nervous. "Shall we go in then?" he asked hesitantly. I nodded.

I paced up and down by the spot on the wall I knew would imminently become a door. _I need a place to talk to Scorp… I need a place to talk to Scorp… I need a place to talk to Scorp…_ And as I knew it would, a door appeared fluidly on what a second previously was an empty section of wall. Scorpius opened the door and I followed him into the room.

I gasped – the room was completely different to how it usually became for us. In the past, it had been a comfortable sort of den – it had had squashy armchairs, cushions and colourful rugs, not unlike the Gryffindor common room. However, this time it had transformed into a stylish sort of lounge. Candlelit, it was adorned with chic black and white leather sofas and an expensive-looking mahogany coffee table.

"It obviously knows our needs have changed," muttered Scorpius, obviously not intended for me to hear. It really did not diffuse the awkwardness.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked coolly. Scorpius swallowed.

"Well… I don't really know where to begin," he admitted. "Rose, we've been friends for so long, and yet we haven't been able to tell anyone, and I don't think that's right. I just don't feel like our relationship is getting anywhere."

The dejection hit me like a hurricane.

"I know where this is going," I said. "You don't want to be friends any more."

"No!" he exclaimed. "That's not what I mean."

I didn't believe it. He was actually trying to gloss it over.

"Yes it is," I told him gently. "Don't worry, I've prepared myself."

"No, Rose! You've got the wrong end of the stick! Just let me finish," he panicked. I decided to hear him out. "What I mean to say is, I know our parents have had their differences in the past, but that shouldn't affect us. But it has, Rose, and it's wrong, wrong that we've had to meet in secret for three years, wrong that we should have to hide our feelings." He sighed. "What I'm really trying to say," he resumed, "is that I love you, Rose Weasley. I love you and I want the world to know it."

Only for a second did the thought cross my mind: are we doing the right thing. Then I remembered Tara's words: "You're the judge."

And suddenly, the world made sense, all of it. The withdrawal, his face falling at the mention of friends, it was the same depression that I'd had. And the tears I'd been holding back all day flowed out freely – they were not tears of sorrow or grief, but tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of anticipation.

"Scorpius Malfoy," I whispered. "I think I love you too."

And then we were the only two people in the world; I leaned in and next thing I knew our lips were pressed together and finally, after dreaming about it for years, I could feel his lips against mine, soft yet insistent, moulded to the shape of mine, as if we were made for each other. His hand climbed up my back and his fingers were entwined in my hair; there was nobody to stop us, we could go on all night, uninterrupted in our dreamlike bliss.

Until it was over, after a second, a minute, an hour, a day, I had no idea, but what I knew for sure was that at that moment I was the happiest I had ever felt in my life.


	6. Euphoria and nerves

I was possessed by my happiness – no, euphoria, happiness isn't a strong enough word. I felt like I had just swallowed half a bottle of Firewhiskey. I ran down the corridors, leaping for joy as I went; I hadn't even bothered with the Invisibility Cloak – the Room was on the same floor as Gryffindor Tower anyway, so I was unlikely to be caught and anyway, even if I had been I wouldn't have cared – nothing could taint my happiness.

Panting, I skidded to a halt outside the Fat Lady's portrait. "Godric's Hollow!" I exclaimed, and smiling knowingly, the Fat Lady asked, "Who's the lucky guy?" as she swung forwards to let me in; I ignored her and ran past into the almost deserted common room.

It was far past midnight, yet Tara had waited up for me – she was the only person amongst the characteristic debris that littered the common room before the house elves came in. She looked up from her essay and looked alarmed at the look of ecstasy on my face.

"What the hell happened?" she asked, expectantly.

"He asked me out!" I exclaimed. "He told me he loved me! And as of tomorrow, no more secrets. We're going public!"

"Oh my gosh!" she squealed and hugged me excitedly "Spill. I need DETAILS. Did you kiss?" she added slyly. I nodded meaningfully. "MORE than kiss?" she exclaimed, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"No, no, not yet," I assured her, and she looked relieved, although slightly disappointed I must say.

After Tara had got me to re-live every second of my meeting with Scorp, we went up to the dorm and heard the deep breathing of our sleeping roommates (Alana, Alice Longbottom, Roxy and Francesca Jordan) as we got ready for bed. I could not sleep to save my life. This was the day I had been waiting for for three years and I lay awake, thinking about how happy I was, but also because there was worry creeping in on the ecstasy: how would the rest of the school react? What would the next day bring?

I had a very restless night, and I was not sure if it was due to the euphoria or the nerves. This caused me to have another of my early morning visits to the Owlery, and who would I see there other than Scorpius himself?

"Hey," he smiled, and it was the first real smile I had seen on his face in months. That reinforced my gut feeling that we were doing the right thing, an maybe was what helped me to combat the worry. He took my hand and our fingers interlocked and I felt ecstatic at his touch; there was no awkwardness in the air and best of all, we didn't have to hide any longer. "How are you feeling?" he asked tenderly.

"A mixture between euphoria and nerves," I said truthfully. "You?"

"Pretty much the same actually," he admitted. "Shall we stay out here for a while?" I nodded and we went to sit under our usual beech tree by the lake.

It was a quiet, peaceful morning and there was not much disturbance. The weak autumn sun shone feebly but enough to make the lake sparkle through the ripples from the movement of the giant squid. I rested my head on Scorpius's chest and he bent his head to kiss the top of my hair, but I turned my head so it became a full-on kiss on the mouth. Our lips moulded together and became one; it was even more perfect than the first time. Then it was over and we just sat together, relaxed in each other's company.

"You know, this is why I love you;" Scorp said reflectively, "once you get going, you never hold back. And that's quite apart from how beautiful you are." I looked up in shock and felt my face go hot. Nobody had ever said that to me before.

"You really think I'm beautiful?" I asked.

"Stunning," he replied. And I was so touched that I kissed him again, a quick one this time.

"We're going to have to face them, aren't we," I said.

"Yes," he answered. "And I think we should do it sooner rather than later, be radical – it might reduce the rumours and speculation. Slightly," he added, seeing my raised eyebrows – nothing could ever stop rumours at Hogwarts.

"And what radical thing might you be suggesting, Scorpius?" I asked, slightly concerned about what his plan was.

"Going in to breakfast together," he said simply. It was so ludicrous I almost laughed.

"Hardly radical, Scorpius," I said sceptically. "For a moment I thought you were suggesting something entirely different," I teased, which earned me a playful tickling match, which I won as always.

"But seriously," he continued, "what I meant was that we have to face them together. We always have to be together now."

So half an hour later, we walked back up the peaceful grounds, hand in hand, knowing that we had a day of anything but peace. We went through the colossal oak front doors, only encountering a few first-year Hufflepuffs who probably didn't know who we were anyway, but we both knew that most of our year would be in the Great Hall eating breakfast like a normal day, although it was anything but a normal day for us.

I stopped in front of the huge mahogany door to the Great Hall. I had butterflies in my stomach; I knew that once I got in there I wouldn't even want to eat anything, but Scorpius was right – this was an obstacle. I looked at the door, knowing that it, and what lay behind it, was the only thing that stood in the way of me and Scorp.

"Ready?" asked Scorpius.

Every signal from my brain was screaming at me not to do this. But then I remembered what I had said to Tara the previous night. _No more secrets._

I took a deep breath.

"Ready," I said.

And hand in hand with Scorp, the person I loved most in the world, I turned the door handle, pushed open the door with a creak, and crossed the threshold.


	7. Acceptance

A hush spread over the wall as we walked up the aisle together. Not only was I the daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley, members of the famous Golden Trio, which got me enough attention normally, not only was I dating a Slytherin, which was unheard of for a Gryffindor, but he was the son of a Malfoy. Malfoys and Weasleys did not have a good track record together.

But I didn't care. I loved Scorpius for the kind, sensitive person he was, and I didn't want old grudges to get in the way of that. Suddenly, I was possessed again by that desire for recklessness. It would be the death of me one day, I was sure of it.

I seized Scorpius by the hand and pulled him towards me. Anchoring my hand at the back of his neck, I kissed him hard on the mouth, in front of the whole school but I didn't care – I wanted to show them that old prejudices could be worked through. Scorpius froze in surprise for a second but then kissed me back just as enthusiastically; it wasn't soft and tender like our first kiss but urgent, insistent; it felt good.

We broke apart; there was a stunned silence. I could feel the hot Weasley blush creeping in from around my ears but my expression was defiant, as if I was daring someone to reprimand me. Then, one by one, people started to applaud; I think it was Tara who started it (I'd be having words with her later) but the majority of the school joined in! Looking up at the high table, I could see some teachers (Professor Clark haha) looking disapproving, whilst I was amazed to see that others (McGonagall!) seemed to be resisting the temptation to join in!

"Radical enough for you?" I asked jokingly.

"Not quite," he smirked, pinging my bra strap before he walked towards the Slytherin table.

"Oi!" I shouted after him. "I'll get you back for that!" But he pretended not to hear me and sat down, grabbing some toast.

I sighed, preparing myself for the reaction, and sat down next to Tara.

"Wow, you don't hold back once you get going," she teased.

"Shut it," I growled. "I just want a normal day thank you." But I was only joking; I couldn't stop smiling and felt the happiness radiating out of me.

"That's why you wouldn't tell me who you fancied!" exclaimed Roxy.

"That was NOT your first kiss," said Francesca, knowingly.

"Rose, that was so embarrassing!" said Hugo, disgusted. "You two need to get a room! And how do you plan on telling Dad?" Ah. I hadn't thought of that.

"It's not something I can tell him in a letter, I'll tell them when I meet them in Hogsmeade," I said. I sometimes met up with Mum and Dad on Hogsmeade weekends and had planned to on the next one, which was next weekend.

Just then, Alana came over from talking to some people on the Ravenclaw table. Oh, great. Even though Alana was a Gryffindor, we had never got on well and she had never bothered to hide her dislike for me.

"So you're seriously dating Malfoy?" she asked.

"Yep," I told her, fighting the desire to laugh at her expression. Flabbergasted was the only word to describe it.

"But… he's hot," she said.

"And…"

"No offence, but you're sort of a bit too… bookish for most boys' liking," she said uncertainly.

"Um – did you just see her then?" asked Tara in amazement.

"Always the tone of surprise," I said, before realising too late how much I sounded like my parents. My cousins all burst out laughing.

All day I endured people wolf whistling at me in the corridors, or else patting me on the back saying "Good for you!" Even McGonagall came up to us and said: "So this is your little secret?" I blushed and she said, "I hope I will be seeing an improvement in your grades next term, Miss Weasley," but it was not really in a stern way – she was smiling as if she was proud of me.

"Don't worry, there will be, Professor," I beamed back at her, and I could have sworn I saw her wink before she turned away and let us get to class.

In class, Tara and Francesca sat with Scorp and me although the others were a bit more hesitant. But those two seemed to click with him almost instantly and I was really happy about that – we had at least been accepted by someone. I didn't know how long it would take my other friends to accept him – Roxy's dad hated Draco Malfoy nearly as much as I did and she had inherited that dislike, especially since George's twin brother Fred, Roxy's twin's namesake, had been killed by a Death Eater. But although Fred had been giving me dark looks from across the classroom all day, Roxy was sensible and she would get over it soon enough. However, I could never see myself being accepted by the Slytherins. I could live with that though.

It was nearing the end of November and the gossip about the Yule Ball was heightening, and now I had Scorp I could listen and join in without feeling sick with longing. Most of the girls were going dress shopping in Gladrags the next weekend, including me, Tara, Francesca, Alice and Roxy. Luckily Alana had decided to go with her Ravenclaw friends.

"And good riddance," I said to Tara out of the corner of my mouth. She giggled. Tara was going to the ball with her steady boyfriend of a year Ollie Longbottom, Alice's twin, although he was in Hufflepuff. Francesca was going with James Potter, which had caused quite a scandal because he's two years above us, although I could see what he saw in her – she's really pretty and has her dad's sense of humour. Alice and Roxy still hadn't asked anyone and we were determined to get them someone.

"You're not going on your own, you'll look like loners!" said Francesca unhelpfully in the dorm that night. I shot her an evil look and said: "Well, is there anyone you like? Because they might like you too; I liked Scorp for ages but was too scared to say anything, and now look – he liked me too!"

"Yeah but did you actually ask them?" asked Alice. Alice was the shy one amongst us, and was terrified to approach a boy.

"No, he asked me… but that's not the point!" I said fiercely. "Anyway, you should learn some more confidence, look where it got your dad!"

"Yeah, but Dad's half the problem," said Alice fretfully. "Who would want to go out with a teacher's daughter?" Nobody had an answer to that, so Francesca moved on to her next victim.

"What's your problem then, Roxy?" she asked insistently. "You've never had a confidence shortage, who do you want to go with?"

"No!" I said, as a dreamy look crossed her face. "No way. We've discussed this."

"Why not?" she asked. "My parents are famous, he won't say no!" she said cockily.

"Don't be stupid, his parents are famous too!" I reminded her.

"Um – time out!" Alana chimed in. "Who are you talking about?"

"Roxanne is under the illusion that Lorcan Scamander will go with her," I informed the others, to scandalised looks.

"But he's a seventh year!" exclaimed Tara.

"And he's good looking too," I reminded them. "He won't have a shortage of girls asking him. Are you sure he hasn't been asked by anyone else?"

"Yes, but he's turned them all down," she said dreamily.

"Ooh, somebody's done their research," Tara giggled, but I interrupted her.

"And why does that mean that he will say yes to you?" I demanded.

"He might have a secret thing for me," she mused, and then looked defensive when we all spluttered. "What? So what if he's a seventh year, Francesca's going with James, he's a sixth year," she reminded us.

"Yes, but that's different. I actually know James," Francesca said reasonably. "Have you ever actually spoken to Lorcan?"

"No, but I've looked at him, and seen the look in his eyes."

"That's just inherited," I said, remembering stories my parents had told about Luna.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was ten minutes to midnight.

"Uh, back in a bit – bathroom," I lied.

"Pah, we're not falling for that one," Tara protested.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Francesca shouted after me, making the others collapse with laughter, and after giving her a dirty look, I threw the Cloak I had borrowed from James over me and headed for the Room of Requirement.


	8. Fairytale

I haven't said this for a while so: Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers, it is much appreciated. A long one, took ages to get right so hope you enjoy!

_Disclaimer: Everything still belongs to JKR_

There were several developments on the partner front over the next few days. Alice had been asked by Tom Adams, a shy little Ravenclaw in our year who was crazy about her. Alana was going with Clifford Smith, son of Zacharias, who I had heard a lot of stories about from Dad, and by the sounds of it they would be perfect personality matches.

Roxy, on the other hand, had not taken well to being rejected by Lorcan. After enduring days of her pestering me for information about him (I had accidentally let slip that our families sometimes had dinner together, although Lorcan usually didn't talk much to me), she had finally asked him. Startled, he had told her that he wasn't going and that even if he was, he wouldn't take a fourth year that he had never spoken to. Despite all of us urging her to move on and ask somebody else, she had taken to accosting him in corridors, begging him to reconsider.

"Seriously Rox, he's just going to think you're a freak if you keep doing this," Francesca told her pleadingly.

"If he doesn't already," added Alana, smirking. Tara gave her a look.

"Listen, Roxanne, I know you like him but you've got to move on," she said, calmly as always. Tara was always the one you went to for comfort – nothing fazed her. "You hardly know him, and anyway I'm sure you'd rather go with someone else than nobody at all! Anyone in our year will say yes, I bet you."

"Yeah," I agreed. "The point is, if he hasn't said yes now, he isn't going to change his mind."

Eventually she listened to us and asked Albus's friend Sean Finnigan, who's pretty fit (although Scorp's the one for me), meaning that we were all sorted and ready to go dress shopping, which we would do on the Hogsmeade trip the next day, which was also mine and Tara's birthday! When we found out that we had the same birthday (back in first year) we were sure that we were soul mates and sure enough, we had turned out to be best friends!

We decided that we would go dress shopping in the morning, then I would meet my parents for lunch (which I was ever so slightly dreading as I had decided that then was the best time to tell them about Scorp), then I was meeting Scorp in the afternoon before the massive joint birthday party in the Gryffindor common room.

"It's just a shame that Ollie and Scorp can't come," mused Tara.

"Ah, well I've thought of that," I said mischievously. Tara looked slightly hesitant but let me continue. "Meet him, late, and take him to the statue of the one-eyed witch. Tap the hump three times and say 'Dissendium'. It'll open a secret passageway into the Honeydukes cellar. There will be nobody there to disturb you at that time," I added, winking.

"No way!" she exclaimed. "But don't you and Scorp want that?"

"Don't worry, I've got something else up my sleeve," I assured her. Now that Scorp and I could meet in public, we didn't meet in the Room every night anymore, but we figured tomorrow would be a special occasion.

Morning dawned and I woke up to a huge pile of presents at the foot of my bed, as did Tara.

"Happy birthday," I grinned at her as I pulled the pile towards me. "How does it feel being fifteen?"

"Not much different, you?" she replied.

"About the same really," I admitted. "Oh well, after the day I've got planned it could be a different story."

I dived into the pile. There was money for my ball dress from Mum and Dad along with a book called _Flying with the Cannons_ (my dad's favourite team – he had been trying to convert me from the Harpies recently), a Harpies scarf from Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny (who used to play for them), assorted sweets from the rest of my family (including my favourite homemade fudge from Grandma Weasley!), rock cakes from Hagrid which I didn't dare touch, a book called _Quidditch through the Ages_ which was a collaborative gift from Teddy, Hugo and my cousins and some nice shoes for the ball from the girls in my dorm. Tara's pile was similar except that the Quidditch merchandise all had Puddlemere United emblazoned on it.

After dressing and eating breakfast, me, Tara, Francesca, Alice and Roxy set off for Gladrags to go dress shopping. There was a huge assortment of dresses – probably brought in especially for Yule Ball shopping. Long skirts, short skirts, tight and loose, low cut and high, strapless and not – they had everything, every colour of the rainbow.

Francesca was fairly quick in deciding on a basic black dress with a low cut, tight top which showed off her figure and a knee-length flowing skirt. Black suited her dark eyes and dark brown hair and her stunning good looks would make up for the simplicity of the dress.

Roxy went for a tight, strapless, floor-length dress – dark green, it brought out the colour in her eyes. Tara also decided on floor-length – her dress was tight around her thighs but flowed out lower down. It was pale purple, which really suited her. However, Alice thought she was too short to carry off a floor-length dress and was worried about tripping in high heels. She also didn't want anything low cut or tight, so we picked out a really pretty knee-length, loose, peach-coloured dress with short sleeves and a silver waistband. The pale colours looked really nice on her and matched her shy personality.

Surprisingly, it took me a fairly long time to decide.

"Come on Rose," said Francesca impatiently (she had been rolling her eyes at all of Alice's demands and I think she just wanted to get to the Three Broomsticks and have a Butterbeer). "What sort of length do you want?"

"Well, Scorp always says he likes my legs," I said uncertainly.

"I'm surprised you put up with that," Tara laughed, knowing how defensive I can be.

"I don't," I assured her.

"Aww," she said. "How long have you two been together now?"

"A month," I told her proudly. "Well, officially," I amended. "It depends what you mean by together."

Eventually I went for a tight, midnight blue coloured dress a couple of inches above the knee (which earned raised eyebrows from Alice) with a black waistband. It really was the fairytale dress of my dreams. Actually I was increasingly getting the feeling that my life was like a fairytale at the moment.

But that was definitely not what I was feeling as I walked away from my friends towards the Three Broomsticks to meet my parents. I had butterflies in my stomach as the tension built. Every girl finds it difficult to tell their dad they have a boyfriend, but when he is the son of a Malfoy, my dad's ex-enemy, it is another matter.

My parents' smiling faces drew closer as I neared them, sitting at one of the outside tables – the weather was fairly nice considering it was mid-November.

"Hi Rosie, happy birthday!" Mum exclaimed, hugging me.

"Let's see it then," said Dad.

"What?" I asked.

"Your dress, silly," he laughed.

"Ron," said Mum disapprovingly, "you haven't even said hello to her yet, let alone happy birthday!" He rolled his eyes, making me giggle despite everything, and ignored her. I sighed and got it out to show them.

"Wow, that colour really suits you," said Mum happily.

"Isn't it a bit short?" asked Dad.

"No," I said defiantly. "It isn't 1950 Dad."

Dad laughed and went to the bar to order while I chatted to Mum about lessons and teachers.

"So is Hugo going then?" Dad resumed when he returned. As Hugo was only third year, he had to be invited by an older student.

"I don't think so," I replied. "I don't think anyone's asked him. Not from my year anyway."

"And who are you going with?" asked Mum. "You haven't mentioned anyone in your letters."

"I wanted to tell you in person," I said casually. "I'm going with Scorpius Malfoy." I watched their reactions cautiously. Dad choked on his Butterbeer whilst Mum looked delighted.

"That's great, Rosie," she said, her face lit up, "I'm so glad that Hogwarts has moved on and can get past the prejudices of the old days." I always knew she would be fine about it; it was only Dad I was worried about.

"Malfoy!" he spluttered.

"Give him a chance, Ron," said Mum reprovingly.

"Give him a chance? I've told you this before, Hermione, poisonous toadstools don't change their spots. He was a Death Eater!"

"People can change, Ron!" she exclaimed, exasperated, but I'd had enough.

"I think you two are forgetting something. DRACO was a Death Eater. Draco. But Scorp has nothing to do with that stuff. He's ashamed of his family. Don't judge him."

There was a moment's silence and Rosmerta came over with the drinks.

"Bad time?" she asked timidly, and for some reason Dad's ears went pink.

"No, no," he said, "Of course not. Well if you trust him, Rosie, that's good enough for me." I flung my arms around his neck and he looked taken aback; my fairytale really was coming true.

A few hours later, after a nice afternoon wandering the shops with Scorp, and the common room was alive with our double birthday party. Fred and Roxanne had raided the kitchens as usual, and by midnight, the majority of people were drunk enough not to notice me and Tara slip out under the Cloak. She dropped me off outside the tapestry and continued down to meet Ollie outside the Hufflepuff common room before going to the one-eyed witch, taking the Cloak with her, as I was keeping the map.

I paced, thinking, as I had so many times before: _I need a place to meet Scorp… I need a place to meet Scorp… I need a place to meet Scorp…_

Then the elegant wooden door came into being and I stepped inside to find the room the same as it was last time we'd met except with a new addition: a double bed. Scorp was sitting waiting on the cream leather sofa, looking slightly nervous: he seemed to have noticed the significance of the bed too.

"Hey," he breathed in the way I loved so much, visibly relaxing at the sight of me. I was wearing my favourite pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a low cut t-shirt, which he seemed to appreciate.

"Oi," I smirked, pushing his gaze upwards to my face, "don't be so obvious."

"Sorry," he said apologetically. "But what if I can't help it?"

I gave him a playful smack around the face and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "I know what would make this perfect. Kreacher!"

The wrinkled old creature appeared, as ever, with a loud crack, in his filthy loincloth.

"You called?" he croaked.

"Hi Kreacher," I giggled, "Could you get us some of that elf-made wine I like?"

"Of course," he said, "anything to help my master's relatives."

He Disapparated and was back again within seconds.

"Anything else?" he croaked.

"No, thank you!" I exclaimed, and he Disapparated with a fourth loud crack.

I soon realised that he hadn't brought anything to drink it out of, but then remembered where we were – two posh-looking wine glasses materialised fluidly on the mahogany coffee table. I poured out two glasses, handed one to Scorp and drained the other.

"You genius, Rose Weasley," he said contentedly, and we kissed again. There was no urgency in it – we had the whole night together. We spent the next few minutes alternating between drinking and kissing, until we broke apart and I saw that his gaze had dropped to my chest again. I jerked his chin upwards for the second time and he chuckled.

"Sorry," he said again. "But you really do look excellent in that top. And yet I can't help but wonder what you look like without it."

I didn't reprimand him this time – probably because of the wine – and before I knew it my mouth was on his again; we were kissing like we never had before, I was delivering every ounce of passion I possessed as Scorpius led me backwards towards the bed; the wine lay forgotten on the table as we lay there together, still kissing. Scorp pulled his t-shirt over his head and discarded it, throwing it across the floor and without knowing what I was doing, my hands caressed his chest before I did the same. Scorp was kissing my neck and his mouth travelled further and further down until it was almost at my chest and I redirected him back to my lips; his hands reached across my back to unfasten my bra…

Then I pushed his hands firmly away, knowing that this was enough, and he looked worried that he had gone too far and upset me, but I shot him a playful grin and said: "You'll have to wait till next time for that bit."

"That's the Rose I know," he smiled and kissed me again, softly this time. Then I laid my head on his chest and felt my skin touch his, feeling content with the world and overwhelmed by my fairytale.

A couple of hours later, I trudged back to the common room and met Tara arguing with the Fat Lady, who was reluctant to let her back in.

"I mean, waking me up at 3am is just unacceptable, what would you do if I told a teacher?"

Tara looked relieved to see me as I demanded, "Hogsmeade. Please let us in, it's our birthday! Just this once."

"Well, it's been more than just this once for you, Madam," she said exasperatedly, "but I'm not a snitch. Go in then, if you must."

"Thanks," said Tara, relieved, and we went through to find Francesca waiting up for us amid all the post-party debris.

"And here they are, finally!" she moaned theatrically, "Leaving your own party! There must have been a good reason," she said, winking knowingly. "So what did you get up to?"

"Wine and a low-cut t-shirt," I told her. "Says it all really."

"And I take it said low-cut t-shirt came off?" she demanded.

"Maybe…" I said. "Ok, yes," I admitted at her raised eyebrows.

"Seriously?" squealed Tara.

"Bra?" demanded Francesca.

"On," I assured them. "Don't look so disappointed!"

"Especially you, you're not off the hook," Francesca warned Tara. "Spill."

"We just kissed," she said, possibly slightly resentfully.

"Ooh, that's stingy, on your birthday," said Francesca. "Is that the furthest you've got?" She nodded.

"What about you?" I asked Francesca.

"Bra," she admitted. "That was with James, of course." Francesca was notorious for the number of boyfriends she had in third year, although she had been with James for a good few months now.

"Do you think he's the one then?" I asked, with a mischievous smile.

"Dunno, too early to tell," she mused. "You two?"

"Yeah, about the same," I said and Tara nodded. "Hey, lighten up," I told her. "There'll be other special nights. The Yule Ball, maybe that will be your night."

She nodded and looked slightly more cheerful as we trailed upstairs to bed, knowing that we would be missing breakfast the next day.


	9. Keep hold

Thanks reviewers, it means a lot! Sorry a short one, and just warning it might be a while before the next update as I go back to school on Thursday…

I don't, and never will, own Harry Potter.

November drew to a close and December began, bringing with it the end of term chaos for the younger years which I wasn't a part of this year, as most people in fourth year and above were staying for the Yule Ball. I was quite excited actually, I had never had Christmas at Hogwarts before, and I didn't have Hugo around to annoy me which was always a bonus. Also I had whole days to spend with Scorpius and also with Tara, Francesca (who I was getting more and more friendly with), Roxanne and Alice. Luckily Roxy and Alana had fallen out which meant that she spent most of her time with her Ravenclaw friends.

On the last few days of term, all fourth years and above had meetings with McGonagall to discuss our grades. Fourth year was on the last day and people were leaving lessons all day to have their fate told. Francesca wasn't the only one who came out looking distraught (she never had been a high flier and James was sort of a distraction). Luckily Scorp had done ok, so my failure couldn't be blamed on him, I thought miserably as I trailed up the stairs towards the Headmistress's office.

I knocked. "Come in," she called.

Whenever I came into the office, I always took the opportunity to look around; it was fascinating. All the headmasters and headmistresses were snoozing in their portraits which surrounded the walls. I only knew two of them: Dumbledore and Snape, who my cousin Albus had been named after. There was the most enormous collection of books I had ever seen, except of course the Hogwarts library, and the Sorting Hat, patched and ragged as ever, was perched on top of the shelf.

"Well I have to say you've impressed me since our last little chat, Miss Weasley," she said, with a knowing smile on her face.

"Really?" I asked, in shock.

"Really," she assured me. "You've aced Charms and Transfiguration of course, knowing your mother. In fact you've already got Outstanding grades in those two subjects. In everything else you're averaging Exceeds Expectations, and considering we're a year away from OWL examinations you're on track from some exceptional results."

I gawped at her, stunned into silence. I had no idea I'd done that well!

"In fact, I think you should do your Charms OWL a year early. It should keep you out of trouble, anyhow," she said sternly, although I could detect a hint of amusement. _She likes me_, I thought. "I know you don't get on well with Professor Clark, however, so Professor Flitwick, the old Charms teacher, has very kindly agreed to come out of retirement to tutor you on Sundays, and you can have Charms lessons off to study in the library. How does that sound?"

"Great," I exclaimed. No more Prof. Clark!

"You'll have to work hard," she warned.

"I'm up for it," I assured her.

She smiled, almost proudly and said, "You've done well for yourself, Rose."

"Thanks," I said, astonished.

"And I don't only mean your results," she laughed. "He's a nice boy, a conscientious student, just like yourself. He's a good influence on you. Keep hold of him."

I considered myself dismissed and left the office, feeling utterly bemused.

"…and then she goes: 'Keep hold of him'! Weird or what?" I asked Scorp, who laughed.

"I think she likes you," he said.

"I think it's just relief that my parents finally got together after seven years of them blatantly fancying each other, or so I've heard," I sniggered.

"We were nearly as bad," Scorp pointed out.

"Three years isn't nearly as long as seven!" I exclaimed. "Mind you, McGonagall's right, I have every intention of holding on to you," I said, snuggling closer to him on the armchair in the Room of Requirement. He leant in and I kissed him, slowly and softly. Then I checked the time. "We'd better go down for dinner," I said.

"We can continue later," he winked.

_Dear Rose,_

_What amazing news, we are so proud of you! Dad says: even your mother wasn't doing that well at that point! Great news about Charms too, make sure you work hard!_

_The Yule Ball will be coming up soon; I bet you're excited! We're glad you've found someone nice to go with! Have fun, take lots of pictures and tell us all about it!_

_We'll miss you over Christmas though, and James and Al and Fred and Roxy and Molly and Lucy and Louis. We were thinking, maybe you would like to bring some friends over for New Year's? Bring Tara, and some others? Scorpius if he wants, although we would understand if he doesn't want to._

_Have a good time and see you soon._

_Love_

_Mum, Dad and Hugo_

I considered the letter, which I received a few days after the holidays began. Definitely I would invite Tara and Francesca but would Scorpius feel out of place? Was there too much history between our families to even consider the prospect? But then I thought: if there was going to be a problem, it would be from Dad. They offered, the letter was signed from him. I sighed; I would think about it later.


	10. The dress of my dreams

The day was finally here. I awoke and saw the pale, weak summer sun low in the sky. Still drowsy, and without glasses or contacts on, I squinted around the room.

"Merry Christmas everyone," Tara called cheerfully. We all groaned – she could just jump out of bed in the morning fully awake! I wasn't bad in the mornings but she put me to shame, and besides, I hadn't slept much from excitement about the ball.

I squinted over at my sizeable pile of presents piled, as usual, at the foot of my bed. It was nice, but I didn't feel the childish euphoria and excitement of presents on Christmas morning – we had to wait until tonight for the main excitement.

About an hour later, I was sitting at the breakfast table next to Scorp (the house tables had been combined for the holidays) in my customary lumpy Weasley jumper from Grandma – maroon this year, with a huge yellow R on the chest – jeans, slippers, no make-up and glasses, as I wasn't bothering with my contacts until later. I was slightly distracted from eating, as Scorpius would not stop looking at me. Hoping he would look away in a minute, I kept eating, but when it got annoying I put down my fork.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing," he said. "You're just looking particularly stunning today."

"What?" I exclaimed. "I haven't got make-up on or anything! You think I look stunning in this?" I said, pulling at my jumper in disbelief.

"Well, you don't have to make an effort to look beautiful to me," he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, and I rolled my eyes – cliché or what? And thinking back to our day in Hogsmeade and how long it took to decide on our outfits, I wondered despairingly why boys were so hard to get. "No, seriously!" he protested at my look. "And besides," he added so only I could hear, "that jumper makes you look… curvy." I pushed his arm away gently in mock offence.

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No… just sexy," he said innocently and I pushed him again.

"Save it for later," I said, even more quietly.

None of us ate much for lunch, as there would be a big dinner later at the ball. Me, Tara, Francesca and Scorp played Exploding Snap in an empty classroom for a couple of hours (Francesca had won the cards in her wizard cracker at lunch) and then at 3 pm we went up to the girls' dorm to get ready.

"You need 5 hours?" exclaimed the boys, and we exchanged "they'll never understand" looks before going up to get ourselves ready.

I had a shower, washing my hair and shaving my legs, and then dried off, put contacts in and magically dried my hair. I admired my handiwork in the mirror – it wasn't bad, although it had gone slightly bushy, so I used another spell to make soft curls which went down just below my shoulders. It was perfect; I decided to leave my hair down for the ball.

Then, standing around in my underwear like the rest of the dorm, I turned my attention to make-up. I put on fairly pale lip-gloss, mascara and silver glittery eyeliner which went nicely with my silver dangly earrings and matching necklace. I painted my nails a metallic sky blue, hoping that it would compliment the midnight blue of my dress nicely.

Finally, the moment of truth: I slipped the dress of my dreams onto my body. It fitted perfectly.

"Zip me up, will you someone?" I yelled to the room at large, and Francesca came and did it – as usual (except when the process involved getting out of bed) she was ready before anyone else.

There was chaos in the room – people were borrowing make-up from each other, panicking if it smudged or if their hair was tangled or if they couldn't find something; however, I noticed that having Alana absent from the proceedings (she was getting ready in an empty classroom with some Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends) helped the atmosphere!

I was the second to be ready – I pulled my flesh coloured tights up and put on my sparkly silver high heels and looked over my reflection. I looked good! My elegant blue dress looked as if it was made for me, and the shoes and jewellery matched it beautifully. I finished off the look with a red rose clipped into the side part of my hair.

Francesca looked equally lovely – her simple black dress looked just lovely on her as I remembered from Hogsmeade and her dark hair looked lovely tied up. All the time we took to find Alice her dress was absolutely worth it because it suited her perfectly. Tara and Roxy both looked tall and elegant in their floor-length gowns and Tara's long, perfectly straight light brown hair looked lovely pulled into a side ponytail, similar to how Roxy had pulled back her curls. I beamed around at my friends – they all looked beautiful and I thought how lucky I was to have them as I wished them all a wonderful night and rushed into the seventh year dorm to find my cousin Lucy.

Lucy was probably the older cousin I got on with best – she had brains like me so we could talk about books, but she had inherited less of her father's stern nature than her twin Molly, and had some of that Weasley spark that I've mentioned before – we could have fun together. Also, as she was a massive flirt, we could talk about boys if Roxy wasn't about, and anyway it was nice to have an older perspective on these things.

There was just as much chaos in Lucy's dorm. Lucy rushed over when I entered, and said excitedly, "Hey, you look lovely!"

"So do you," I answered truthfully. Her dress was strapless and had a flowing skirt, like Francesca's, and was deep purple, decorated with black roses. Her hair was bundled up and looked lovely. Molly also looked pretty in a more modest burgundy dress.

Lucy ran back to my dorm with me and admired everyone else's dresses as I rummaged for my camera in my trunk – I had promised Mum pictures – and took a picture of us all lined up on the balcony. Then I had a picture with Tara and Francesca, with Roxy and Alice and on my own with Lucy. Then, down in the common room with only twenty minutes to go before the ball began, I got a picture with all my cousins who were still at Hogwarts and old enough to be going: Louis, Molly, Lucy, Fred, Roxy, James and Albus.

Francesca and Roxy met up with their partners in the common room, while Alice, Tara and me were going with people from other houses so, with ten minutes to go, we went to meet them in the Entrance Hall. Glancing around at the other two, I asked, "Ready?"

They both nodded and we took a collective deep breath and began to descend the marble staircase.


	11. As if by magic

I saw Scorpius at once – he was standing on his own, glancing around nervously, until he saw me and his face broke into that smile I loved so much. I could see that he appreciated the length of the dress as he looked me up and down, his gaze lingering for slightly too long on the hem of my dress, which was part way up my thigh. I beamed back at him, taking in his dashing black dress robes, slightly tighter than some, I noted pleasurably, and when I reached him, our lips met in a soft kiss. There was no urgency in it – we had the whole night to spend together.

Finally, the doors to the Great Hall opened. I gasped, taking in the transformation; the walls were draped with silvery satin and there was glitter and pastel colours everywhere. The customary six gigantic Christmas trees looked modest compared to the rest of the decoration. There was a long dinner table, covered in a sparkly silver tablecloth, which rested against three of the four walls and there were name cards on them. On the remaining wall there was a stage where the Weird Sisters would be making their second Yule Ball appearance, and around there were several circular tables and chairs for when people wanted a break from dancing on the magnificent glittering dance floor. There was a bar manned by house-elves in reindeer antlers in the middle of the hall where underage students were allowed Butterbeer and soft drinks, while teachers and older students could choose from a variety of alcoholic drinks including wine, mead and Firewhiskey.

Me and Scorp were sat on the table next to Tara and Ollie.

"How do they know who's going with who?" Ollie asked, amazed.

"Uh… we go to a magic school," Tara pointed out.

"I guess so," he laughed.

After studying my menu carefully, I ordered Butterbeer with barbeque chicken, while Scorp had pork chops. We called out our choice and, as if by magic, it appeared on the plate – well it was magic! For dessert we got our own mini chocolate fountain with fruit and chunks of cake to dip in. I giggled at the look of bliss on Scorpius's face and wiped the chocolate off his face with my napkin, making him blush with embarrassment. I burst out laughing – he looked adorable! I kissed him slowly and passionately and he started to respond enthusiastically, but at that moment, Professor McGonagall waved her wand, vanishing the dinner tables. The dancing was about to begin.

The first number played was a romantic, happy sounding waltz played by the Wizarding Wireless Network Symphony Orchestra, who were playing before the Weird Sisters. I cruised around the floor in Scorpius's arms, feeling secure and blissful. He was a good dancer, he knew what he was doing and for the first time in my life, I really felt like a princess.

I looked around at the other couples on the floor, and all the shapes and sizes and kaleidoscopic colours of the dresses swirling as they twisted and twirled across the floor. We passed Tara and Ollie again and I hoped that they too would get their happily ever after – if the looks on their faces were anything to go by they were not far off. We also passed Francesca and James, Alice and Tom, Roxy and Sean, and my other cousins with their partners including Lucy with her boyfriend, Connor Harvey. They also had expressions of joy on their flushed faces, but I knew their ecstasy could not rival mine. In all the excitement we had forgotten about the foreign students – the dark, brooding good looks of the Durmstrang boys were remarkable and the light, pretty, frilly dresses worn by the Beauxbatons girls were easily distinguishable from the tighter, more revealing things worn by Hogwarts students.

And before I knew it, the song changed and the Weird Sisters appeared on the stage, their hair as backcombed and their costumes as wacky as usual, triggering an eruption of cheering and causing a lot more people to rush onto the floor. They started an upbeat number and the style and pace of the dancing changed.

After hours of dancing, we sat down and got drinks, hot and flushed from the exercise. I had my favourite elf-made wine while Scorp tried to sneak some Firewhiskey – the teachers were too drunk by now to take any notice of who was of age or not.

At our little circular table I nuzzled my head into Scorp's shoulder, exhausted.

"I love you," I said, yawning.

"I love you too," he said, and even though he had said it before, it felt just as good as the first time. I leaned in to kiss him gently, but suddenly I wasn't tired any more; something within me rose up and gave me stamina. Our kiss deepened and suddenly became too much for public view, so Scorpius took me by the hand and we almost ran outside – it was getting late, and we knew it wouldn't be long before the teachers started rounding us up.

We found a secluded-looking rosebush and the moonlight shone through the gaps in the thorns, illuminating our faces as we each poured all the passion we possessed into that kiss, our hands travelling around the other's neck, Scorpius's fingers rifling through my curls. The fact that we could be discovered at any moment made this all the more exciting, reckless; there was urgency now, the kisses hardened and deepened and it felt good.

Then he stopped and took in our surroundings.

"A rosebush," he whispered wonderingly. "I love you, my Rose."

"Now that really is magical," I replied, and our lips moulded together again, more urgently than ever before as I discarded my shoes and Scorpius's hand reached up under my skirt, resting there for a moment longer than necessary before pulling down my tights all the way and stroking my smooth legs lovingly. I unbuttoned his shirt, unable to do it quickly enough, and threw it aside uncaringly, and then I caressed his smooth, muscular chest, feeling every groove and mapping it out in my head. Then his hands splayed across my back before unzipping my dress and pulling it down under my feet then continued the kiss, quickening the pace even more. I was struggling for oxygen and my heart rate seemed as though it would never stop increasing; I had to keep coming up for air. He broke the kiss briefly as he made to unclasp my bra, waiting for me to give him the nod; when I did, he took it off carefully and just looked down at my breasts, enjoying the view before –

"Fifty points from Hufflepuff! Get back to your dormitories immediately!"

"Clark!" I hissed, horrified, and I shoved my dress over my head, not bothering with bra, tights or shoes as we ran into the Forbidden Forest because I knew if I put them on it wouldn't be for long – we weren't finished yet.


	12. Mischief

When I arrived back at the Gryffindor common room in the early hours of the morning, the after-party was still in full swing, although couples including Francesca and James were tangled in armchairs in the corners. There was food and lots of alcohol, no doubt courtesy of Roxy and Fred, and there was a reprise of the Weird Sisters blasting out of the wireless on full volume.

I was greeted with a cheer as everyone took in my dishevelled appearance.

"Ooh, someone's been busy!" screeched Alana over the music.

"Did you do it?" Francesca shrieked, momentarily distracted from James. I shook my head and she looked disappointed for only a second before she and James carried on as if there had been no interruption. I could see Alice with a shocked expression as she took in my appearance – I must look worse than I thought! Tara still wasn't back and a smile crept over my face at the thought of what they would be doing.

Several hours and many visits from exasperated looking teachers later, we dragged ourselves up to the dorms and I finally got to properly study my reflection in the floor-length mirror beside my bed. I made a face – there were smears of mud all over my dress and legs, I had a few rips and had completely ruined my tights (well, we were in a rosebush), my make-up was smudged all over my face and my hair looked as though I had been through several hedges backwards (well I probably had). I was glad Mum didn't have a picture of me looking like this.

"How can someone who hasn't had sex come in looking like that?" Francesca asked, alarmed, and the smile that had not left my face all night widened as there was a snort from Alana and laughter from the others. Actually, Francesca looked surprisingly tidy considering the amount of time she spent in that armchair with James – her hair was only slightly untidy and her lipstick only slightly smudged. I pointed this out to her.

"Experience," she said dismissively, to noises of disgust from the rest of the room. "So," she demanded, turning to Tara who had relatively recently appeared, looking only slightly better than me. "How was it?"

"Good," she said, with a similar expression to mine.

"Did _you_ do it?" Francesca asked hopefully.

"No," Tara said firmly. Francesca looked disappointed again.

"Why is everyone here so _boring?_" she moaned melodramatically.

"Well, did _you_ do it?" Alana retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Well… no," she admitted. "But I'm suffering from a serious lack of gossip here!"

"We're only fourth year, there's plenty of time yet," I pointed out. "Anyway, we've just had the Yule Ball!" I exclaimed despairingly. "That would provide anyone else with enough gossip to last at least until the end of the holidays."

"Yeah, didn't you _see_ those Durmstrang boys?" Roxy said dreamily, to groans from the room at large.

"Roxanne!" exclaimed Alice, scandalised. "You're with Sean!"

"Yes, but he's only a temporary measure," she said. "I would choose one of them over him any day; Sean's not exactly good-looking, is he?"

"Rox!" we all exclaimed.

"She's right though," said Alana, "Clifford is much more handsome."

"Yeah, but he's so stuck up," Francesca argued, "I'd much rather have James, he's not nearly as arrogant, although he has his moments, but he makes up for it by being an amazing kisser." Roxy and I exchanged looks – we didn't really want to think about our cousin in this way! I looked at the time – it was 4.30am.

"Ugh, I've had WAY too much to drink," Francesca grumbled, and I could identify with that feeling.

"Yeah, let's get some sleep," I said, and we said our goodnights and fell asleep almost immediately.

The mood in the common room was subdued the following afternoon as me, Francesca and Tara sat in armchairs by the fire – Boxing Day, the world's biggest anticlimax, does not go well with hangovers.

"Come on, guys," I said. "Let's do something rebellious!" We were so bored as many students, including Scorpius and Ollie, had gone home for the rest of the holiday, although Scorp was joining us for the mass Weasley New Year's gathering.

"Like what?" Tara moaned. Her hangover was worse than any of ours.

"I don't know… Roxy! Up for some mischief?" I called, as she climbed through the portrait hole.

"Well, as a matter of fact…" she began and everyone's faces looked up – this was bound to be good. "Who's your least favourite teacher?"

Two hours later, we were stifling our giggles outside Professor Clark's office, waiting to start our prank.

"Everyone got what they need?" Roxanne whispered. We all nodded. "Ok, go for it, Tara." Tara crept up and knocked insistently on Professor Clark's door, while me, Francesca and Roxy slipped under the Invisibility Cloak.

Clark opened the door and looked taken aback when he saw Tara.

"Ah, Miss Wood! What can I do for you?" he asked pleasantly. We exchanged looks; Tara always seemed like the teacher's pet, but was nothing like that.

"Sir, I was just wondering if you could check through my Summoning Charm essay draft before I copy it up?" she asked innocently.

"Of course," he said, surprised, taking it out of her hands. "Getting it over and done with, are we?"

As he was telling her about a mistake she had made in the third paragraph, Roxy opened the door carefully, and slammed it shut. Professor Clark nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What was that?" he exclaimed. "Peeves? Is that you? I'll set the Baron on you!" When there was no reply, he asked Tara, "Did you hear anything, Wood?"

"No," she assured him. "I didn't hear anything."

"Oh," he said, baffled. "I must be going mad." We couldn't stop the giggles, but luckily, they were muffled by the Cloak.

Then I dropped the Decoy Detonator, which hooted and banged, making him whiz around – he hadn't noticed the horn-like object scuttle past him. "PEEVES?"

"What are you talking about, sir?" Tara asked earnestly, but I could see the tears of restrained laughter in her eyes.

"Oh… nothing," he said, clearly resigned to the fact that he really was hearing things.

Finally, Francesca pulled a tin from her pocket. Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder.

"WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?"

"Professor, I really don't know what you mean," Tara said, and I could hear her voice wavering from laughter.

Opening the door silently, we sprinted out into the corridor and we might have got away with it if the Invisibility Cloak hadn't slipped just as the darkness cleared, giving Clark a glimpse of my distinctive red ponytail whipping past the doorframe –

"ROSE WEASLEY!"


	13. A moonless night

_Thank you to my AMAZING reviewers, it means a lot._

_Warning: you might hate me after this chapter!_

The rest of the week passed without event (except our detention with McGonagall of course, but that was worth it for the look on Clark's face), and before we knew it, it was New Year's Eve and we were queuing outside the fire in McGonagall's office, where we would go home by Floo Powder – Francesca and Tara were going home to drop off their trunks before coming to the party at the Burrow later.

"See you later!" I called excitedly as I got a pinch of powder from the pot and shouted, loudly and clearly: "The Burrow!"

I stepped out of the fireplace and found Grandma and the rest of the family putting up decorations and sorting out the drinks.

"Hello, Rose dear," Grandma beamed as she embraced me. "Wipe your feet on the mat here, dear, and I'll put your trunk upstairs for you while you get stuck in with the decorations!"

The Burrow had been extended since our parents' days to accommodate visits from the twelve Weasley grandchildren and their parents, so there was all the more work to do to decorate it all!

"Rose!" exclaimed Hugo, and he came over and hugged me – although I pretended to hate him, we were really quite close.

"Hey Rose, how are you doing?" asked Teddy.

"All right thanks, you? How's Auror training?" I was always interested to hear about Teddy's training, as my ambition was to become an Auror myself, not some boring office job in the Ministry like Mum and Uncle Percy.

"It's great, you'll love it when you start. A few years yet, mind," he winked.

"Hi!" said Dominique. "Oh I'm so jealous of you being at Hogwarts this year, just my luck that they bring back the Yule Ball the year after I leave!"

"How was the ball?" Victoire enquired, a knowing glint in her eye.

"Fantastic," I told her, and they took me off into a corner for me to give them all the gory details, until Grandma came in, looking slightly harassed, and demanded: "Why is nobody helping?"

Many hours later, the party was at its peak as the extended Weasley family and all the guests were gathered in the living room with drinks and loud music, watching the clock with anticipation. Then, as the second hand drew close to the twelve, Grandad turned off the wireless as we all joined in with:

"Five… four… three… two… one… HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

We all drained our glasses (Al choked violently, sending Lily into hysterics) and hugged, excitement covering our faces. I got hugs from Francesca, Tara and lots of cousins and aunts and uncles (I lost track of who they were in the confusion) and pecks on the cheek from Dad, Grandma, Grandad and even some of the other guests, including one of Dominique's ex-boyfriends, seventh year Cohen Finnigan, who looked rather hot in a shirt with slightly fewer buttons done up than some (I shook that thought off) and a proper full-blown kiss on the lips from Scorp in front of everyone (Dad looked away pointedly). Then there was a rush to the kitchen to get more drinks.

I had my first taste of Firewhiskey, recommended by Scorp, and then drank several more glasses of it. The burning sensation in my throat felt good. In fact, I had drunk a lot more than the Yule Ball night, which was enough! I was glad that there were so many people there – Mum was less likely to notice just how much. I grabbed hold of Scorp and, forgetting about everyone else in the room, I kissed him passionately, surprising him a little (he was not as drunk as me). We were interrupted by my Dad clearing his throat loudly behind us.

"Dad!" I protested, and Mum and Grandad were giving him disapproving looks.

"So how long have you two – ah – been together then?" he asked in a fake cheery voice.

"A couple of months," Scorp replied.

"Hmmm," Dad said. "So… Scorpius. Does your dad see any of his friends from the… er… old days then?" I was outraged, but before I could open my mouth, Mum and Grandad were by his side.

"Ron," said Mum warningly.

"Ron, leave it," said Grandad.

"No, it's fine," said Scorpius, and I could tell he was starting to get angry. "If you mean Death Eaters, no he doesn't see them, because it was one mistake he made a long time ago and he is ashamed of it."

"Pah," spat Dad, "a bit more than just a mistake."

"Ron," Grandad warned, louder this time.

"Yes, a mistake," shouted Scorpius, "and he's done his time in Azkaban, the Ministry's satisfied and so should you be!"

"Well he'll still always be the same slimy, self-satisfied git he's always –"

"You see? I knew your family would react like this! I hoped we could get past those old barriers, I thought the war was over! But it's not, the prejudice continues, that's why I couldn't tell my parents!"

A shocked silence fell over the room.

"You… you what?" I asked, shaking.

"I haven't told my parents, Rose, I'm sorry. They think I'm at Robert's " he admitted quietly, and I could see tears in his eyes.

"I think you should go," said Grandma in a dangerous voice.

"I'm sorry Rose," he pleaded. "I loved you, but maybe this is a sign. Maybe we're not meant to be together."

"OUT!" roared Grandad, and tears streaked down my face as Scorp disappeared into the fire. I took one look at the smug expression on my father's face and couldn't stand it any longer. I took in the stares from the guests and cousins and sprinted up the stairs to my bedroom.

Without bothering to shut the door, I collapsed onto the bed and let it all out. The tears flowed out as I wept for Scorp, for what we had, for how it all ended. Then I heard the toilet flush and footsteps down the stairs from the next floor up. They stopped when they reached my landing.

"Hello?" called a voice uncertainly. "Are you ok?"

A boy came into my room. It was Cohen Finnigan.

"Hey," I said, standing up and wiping my eyes. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," he said, coming towards me. "It's alright. He's not worth your tears."

He made to put his arm around me, but I flinched away instinctively.

"Oh… sorry," he muttered awkwardly. "Do you want me to go?"

"No, it's fine," I insisted. I leant over to rest my head on his shoulder and he put his arm around me. It felt nice.

Suddenly, a force possessed me to turn my face up to his dark, brooding features and kiss him. He sprang away, but on reflection leaned back in and kissed me back. He was better than Scorpius; older, more experienced, he did things with his tongue and hands that Scorp had never even considered; he was in charge and my mouth just moulded to his. It was an amazing feeling, nothing I had ever felt before; I reacted by picking up the pace and pouring all the passion I had into it but it was not Cohen I was thinking of – my anger with Dad, my frustration with Scorp, my hate of the fact that the past had to affect what I could do now; I closed my eyes and it was Scorp that I pictured myself with, Scorp I was doing this with, Scorp that I loved.

As the kiss deepened, Cohen tried to direct us towards the bed and I was all too willing to obey: I wanted him, I wanted him there and then, I wanted to go all the way but I resisted; I did not want us to be discovered. Breaking the kiss, I dragged him through the door and down the back staircase, out of the door that led to the yard and into the gathering of trees at the back.

It was pitch black that night, which made it all too easy to carry on – it felt unlike anything I'd ever felt before as I let myself go; this didn't feel hesitant or careful like it did with Scorp, but all the same I saw Scorp's lips against mine, felt Scorp's hands rip my t-shirt over my head and unclasp my bra without hesitation, felt Scorp's chest as I impatiently undid the shirt buttons, felt Scorp's hands remove my skirt and the rest and caress every part of my body as one thing led to another with every piece of our clothing scattered across the forest floor on a moonless night.


	14. Numbing the pain

**_Thank you for your lovely reviews; I don't know what I would do without them!_**

**_Xxx_**

I felt dirty. Contaminated. I had behaved like an animal last night and I wished, more than anything, more than I had ever wished it before, that I could turn the clocks back.

My memories of New Year's Eve were few and ha_z_y when I woke up in my room at The Burrow, but I did not like what I could remember, and I'm sure what I couldn't was even worse. All I knew was that Scorp was gone, I had a thumping headache and I was very sore. Down below.

Then it all came back to me as the image surfaced in my mind and I realised the full horror of what I had done. There was only one thing to do.

Lucy opened her door and beamed when she saw me.

"Hey, wasn't last night amazing? I bet you know what a hangover really feels like now –"

I cut across her. "Lucy, I did something stupid."

"Well we all do when we're drunk, that's what happens," she told me, unfazed.

"No, I mean _really_ stupid. I had sex with Cohen Finnigan."

I studied her reaction carefully. One thing I loved about Lucy was that you could never shock her, which was why I didn't tell Tara instead – I couldn't bear to see the look on her face (besides, she had gone home by Floo Powder in the early hours of the morning). However, I could see that Lucy was not impressed.

She didn't say anything for a while, and then she walked over to her trunk, sighed and said, "I'll make you some morning after potion."

"Thanks," I said, and I meant it. As she got out her cauldron, I couldn't help wondering how she knew the recipe.

"Luce, have you ever…" I began.

"No," she said, firmly, turning her head from busying with the ingredients. "I want to save my first time for sometime special." My stomach clenched in guilt. Then she realised what she had said, and added quickly: "Sorry, Rose, that was really insensitive. Are you ok? Does it still hurt?"

"A bit, but I'm fine," I lied; I was really not fine. She saw right through me. Stopping what she was doing, she came over and gave me just what I needed: a hug. Then she let go and looked at me hopelessly.

"Oh, Rose," she sighed. "How could you? I know you and Scorp had a bit of an argument last night, but you can sort it. You're made for each other! You didn't just have to throw it all away."

A single tear slipped down my cheek. "I know," I sobbed. "I know it's no excuse, but I was drunk out of my mind and angry with Dad and frustrated with Scorp and I just needed some way to let it all out. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, it felt amazing. It was just a way to numb the pain with someone other than Scorp."

"I know," she soothed. "And I'll be having words with Cohen," she added.

"No! Please don't," I begged, alarmed. "Don't make things worse for me. I just want to forget it ever happened."

"Alright then," she relented. "If that's what you really want. But all the same, taking advantage of an innocent fourteen-year-old –"

"Fifteen," I interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, what's the difference? You're still underage. He could have got you pregnant!"

"Yes, but if you get on with making that potion quickly, he won't have," I said calmly. "And I would appreciate you not telling my mother," I warned.

"Don't worry, I won't," she assured me. "One conversation I do NOT fancy having. Now drink this, the sooner the better," she said, handing me the goblet.

She looked as though she was having some sort of internal struggle before sighing, and then speaking again. "Sorry I got so stressy, this is a bit of a sensitive subject for me. I don't really want to talk about why right now. Maybe I'll tell you another time." And I left the bedroom, leaving Lucy to her own mysterious thoughts.


	15. Emotion

_Sooo thanks to those who are still reading and reviewing after I did that… I wouldn't be able to go on without you, it's too depressing! I just had an inspiration about how to end the story (although it might not be for a good few chapters), all I will say is don't judge Rose yet…_

Mum surveyed me worriedly as I waited with my trunk in the queue of cousins about to Floo back to Hogwarts.

"Have you got everything, Rose?" she asked fretfully.

"Yes Mum," I sighed, but the usual exasperation I felt at times like this was not there. I don't think I was capable of feeling anything.

"Are you sure you're ok, Rosie?" she asked. She used my childhood nickname, which filled me with a pang of longing for those times of innocence and I wished more than ever that I could rewind to those times, before everything changed. Before I ruined it.

"I'm fine, Mum," I told her. But I knew she could see the dead look in my eyes that I could feel in my body.

"You've been awfully quiet. What have you been doing all week?"

"Studying," I said truthfully. I had been shut up in my room with a Charms textbook – not only did it convince my parents that the way I was acting was only due to nerves about my OWL, but it provided a distraction; I only needed to think, not feel. It didn't involve emotion. This was different to the depression I had before I got with Scorp – _him_, I couldn't even think his name – because then I could lie on my bed for hours, drowned in emotion, but now I was doing everything I could to avoid emotion, so I didn't have to think about what I'd done. I knew it was cowardly, Merlin knows how I was sorted into Gryffindor.

"Well, make sure you don't overwork yourself," she said, worriedly (and also uncharacteristically).

"I'll be fine, Mum," I said again, and after hugs and kisses from Mum and an awkward wave from Dad, I stepped into the fireplace and said "Hogwarts!"

I emerged, soot covered, onto the rug in Professor McGonagall's office, and she looked up immediately.

"Ah, good evening Miss Weasley. If I could ask you to make your way directly to your common room."

"Why?" I asked, suspicious.

"Well, it could be nothing to worry about, but we have reason to believe that Dark forces have been trying to penetrate the castle's defences." a jolt of fear twisted my stomach; I hadn't felt this much emotion since – no, I didn't want to think about that.

Dark forces. That thought terrified me. Ever since I was little, I had known what my parents and their friends had been through to try and eradicate that from the world, but of course that was an unachievable aim. There had always been stories in the papers about bands of old Death Eaters getting back together, but they had always been stopped by the highly efficient Auror office (run by my Uncle Harry) before anything this serious happened. And I had thought the same thing had been true of the recent story in the papers, but looking back on it I could see subtle developments in it past anything else that had happened since I was born.

Professor McGonagall saw my expression. "Don't worry, Rose. There's nothing to suggest it could be anywhere near as bad as Voldemort."

"I know, Professor," I said. "It's just the thought of the war… I thought we were safe."

She sighed heavily. "I would have hoped so. But there's nothing to worry about – the Aurors have been called and we are just keeping all the students in the common room so we know where they are in case of an emergency."

I took this as my dismissal and turned to leave, but at that moment, a green flash illuminated the fireplace and a figure appeared.

"Straight to your common –" Professor McGonagall began, but Scorpius ignored her and ran straight over to me.

"Rose, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, and I could see a tear in his eye. "I should have told them, I know, and I shouldn't have shouted at your dad or left so suddenly, and I'll understand if you think it's too late but I've told them now, they're cool with it Rose, they're even happy for me! Oh, please say you'll take me back."

A huge part of me was begging to say yes. My brain was telling me to confess, and to let him move on, but my heart told me to say yes and pretend that nothing had happened. But I knew better.

His whole body was raised towards me in expectance, and I felt even more heart-wrenchingly guilty.

"I'm sorry, Scorp," I said. I had to do the right thing.

His face fell.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't take you back. We can't be together any more."

His face creased in confusion, and my instincts told me to lean in and kiss him right there and then, in the office, even in front of McGonagall. But I couldn't.

"Are you still angry with me?" he asked, heartbroken.

"No, no, it's not that," I said. It was laughable really, for me to even for one moment consider not forgiving him after what I had done. "No, I understand. I forgive you completely. No, it's me. Maybe you're right. Maybe we weren't meant to be together. You deserve someone better than me."

And I ran from the office, unable to withhold the emotion for any longer. He deserved someone better. Someone who wasn't a coward. Someone who still had their virginity.


	16. Panic

_Hi everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a while but I've been really busy with school and stuff. Thanks for reading and reviewing and keep them coming, it's what keeps me writing! Sorry short one today..._

The common room was a scene of forced calm. Nobody was panicking out loud – things like this had happened before, after all, although they had never got this serious – but it was clear from the buzz of nervous chatter and furtive glances around the room that everyone was secretly terrified.

It continued that way for some time, despite the lateness of the hour. Nobody had gone to bed, even the first years, because we were in limbo together, not knowing if Dark wizards were about to attack us any second. We were just waiting in anticipation of the prefects and Head Girl (my cousin Molly), who had been called for a meeting in the staff room.

People were arriving back from their holidays all the time, so the opening and closing of the portrait hole was a common occurrence, but still every time we heard its distinctive creak, a hush fell over the room as everybody turned to see if it was Death Eaters about to kill us, or Molly come back to give us news.

Finally, Molly and the prefects reappeared, and by looking around at my friends' terrified faces I could tell that they felt the same way as I did – that they didn't want to hear the news.

"We have to go down to the Great Hall," she said breathlessly. "They'll explain there."

A fresh wave of panic spread across the room as we took in her words. Things must be bad if they were summoning us at two o'clock in the morning.

When we had settled down at the house tables and all the other houses had arrived, Professor McGonagall prepared to speak. I noticed for the first time how old and lined her face looked.

"As you know, the castle is currently under attack from Dark Forces. We believe that these are a band of Death Eaters who we never caught." Tara looked positively terrified – her uncle as well as mine had been killed in the Second Wizarding War, as had relatives of many other people in the hall. "Unfortunately, they are using magic unrecognised by the Aurors, and every second they are getting further towards breaking the castle's defences. So we're going to take you down to the dungeons and put all the protective enchantments around there. It will be more powerful if it's surrounding a smaller area. Yes, we're going to let them in, and the teachers, the Aurors and surviving members of the Order of the Phoenix are going to fight them. There is nothing to worry about, we far outnumber them and can easily beat them, you just need to wait and not panic."

Not panic… that was never going to happen.


	17. Destruction

_I __am so, so sorry for the delay in updating, here's a fairly long one to make up for it… I reckon I will finish in 2 or 3 chapters; hopefully I'll be able to write them this weekend… Thanks again to everyone who has stayed with this story… until the very end._

"Why, Rose?" Scorpius pleaded. "I know I upset you, but is it really that bad?"

The whole school was cooped up in the dungeon and we could hear sounds of destruction as the castle disintegrated around us. There was no worse place to have this conversation.

"I've told you, it's not about that," I told him, tears in my eyes. He was making this so hard. "Just stop. I have to let you go."

Lucy had overheard. "You mean you haven't told him, Rose?" she asked, pure disappointment and shame dripping from her voice. "You owe him that much," she said quietly.

"I can't do it," I whispered to her, and I wasn't even trying to hold back the tears. "I'm such a coward, Merlin knows why I'm a Gryffindor."

"Just tell the truth," she told me gently, and I was so glad that I had told her, or I might have kept Scorp in the dark forever.

I took a deep breath. "Scorpius," I began. "I am so sorry. You will hate me after I tell you this, and I want to tell you first that I am sorry. I'm not only sorry for what I did, but I'm sorry I didn't tell you straight away, I'm sorry I even contemplated not telling you. You will hate me for telling you, but it's better that you know why I have to let you go."

There was silence in the dungeon. There were a lot of talents at Hogwarts, and one of them was sensing an intense conversation, and now the whole school was eavesdropping. Well. This would be harder than I anticipated.

"What is it?" he asked, and I could see that he was panicking. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can get through it –"

I cut him off. "No we can't. This is different. I did something awful. I…"

I couldn't say it. I searched out Cohen's face in the crowd and there was no expression on it. No guilt, no regret, nothing. I flared up with anger at myself for not seeing what he was.

"Rose," Lucy prompted.

"I slept with… someone."

There was a collective gasp around the room. I could see giggles and scandalised expressions at this fresh piece of gossip. I looked round at my friends, who looked even more shocked than the rest of the school.

Francesca was the first to recover. "Oi!" she yelled to the room at large, breaking the silence. "This isn't a pantomime, mind your own business!"

I felt a swell of appreciation for her friendship – I wasn't sure how many friends I would have left after this and if this was anyone else she would be joining in with the gossip, but I respected that she knew she needed to hear both sides of the story before judging me.

Scorpius's face froze. He had (unsurprisingly) not expected that.

"Say something," I whispered after a full minute.

"Who?" he asked, dazed.

"I… I don't want to –" I began, but he interrupted me.

"If you really love me, tell me who."

I sought out his face again. Nothing.

"Cohen Finnigan," I whispered.

He said nothing, but, looking like he was going to throw up, sprinted towards the door where the protective enchantments ended.

"SCORPIUS, NO!" I yelled. I had hurt him so badly and I did not want to be the cause of his death.

But it was too late. He had forced the door open and left.

"I have to go after him," I shouted to Lucy and bolted after him.

"I'm not letting both of you die, I'm coming too!" she yelled, and we ran down towards the destruction.

* * *

SCORPIUS'S POV:

I had to get out of there. I could not let the whole school let me break down. And I wanted to fight, to fight the people that brainwashed my father and got us all into this mess in the first place.

In the midst of the destruction, nobody seemed to have noticed me, and somehow I found myself with a clear head, able to think this through. Why had she done that? Well, that much was clear – she was clearly upset with me, and she was so drunk she hardly knew what she was doing and confronted with a manipulative, sex-crazed seventeen-year-old, what would you expect? No, it wasn't so much what she had done that confused and upset me (although I obviously wasn't happy about it) so much as that she'd wanted to hide it from me. She didn't trust me enough to believe that we could work through it and thought she could just dump me without a reason. We'd been friends for four years, we had understood each other perfectly, but I didn't understand her at that moment. I didn't even understand myself. Why wasn't I angry about what she'd done?

But then, weaving between the spells that were blitzing across the Entrance Hall came Lucy and Rose. I did not need to see Rose at that moment, I needed to sort out my feelings first.

"Come on, come on!" she screamed, "We can't be here! We can't get back into the dungeon now, we'll have to find somewhere safe to hide!"

I flinched away as she tried to drag me by the hand, not wanting to be near her just yet, although I knew we would have to talk about this eventually.

Then it happened. A stray jet of green light streaked across the hall, dodged by the other fighters in the room but heading straight for me… Rose shoved me out of the way just in time, sending both our wands clattering across the floor, and it missed her arm by inches, but it hit the ceiling which collapsed, sending an avalanche of bricks cascading down in front of me and Rose, making a solid wall between us and the rest of the world. We were trapped.


	18. Words and silences

ROSE'S POV:

I watched the wall build up between me, Scorp and the rest of the world as if in slow motion. I was in shock – I had just been millimetres away from death. And the funny thing was, I hadn't even thought about it beforehand. Jumping in front of the Avada Kedavra for Scorp just seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Why did I just throw him away?

The bricks stopped falling and we were completely caved in with no wands. There was a deathly silence, so the battle must have relocated somewhere else.

"Rose? Scorpius?" called a trembling voice.

"Lucy, we're here!" I cried. "On the other side of the bricks, can you shift them?"

"No, my wand…" she began, sounding close to tears. "My wand snapped when I was scrambling to get away from the bricks. All the people who were fighting ran out but I wasn't quick enough. The ceiling collapsed on this side too and I'm trapped as well. We'll have to wait here for somebody with a wand."

I locked eyes with Scorp and he quickly looked away, but not before I saw that his look of horror matched mine.

"Is Scorp ok?" Lucy called.

"Yeah, he's –" I began but Scorpius shouted over me.

"I can speak for myself!"

He took a deep breath. "Rose, I –"

"We don't have to talk now," I told him gently. "We can talk whenever you're ready."

"Well, we're trapped alone in a confined space, I don't really see how it's possible not to talk right now," Scorp replied frostily. "Go on then."

"What?"

"Talk. Say what you want to say."

What did I want to say?

"I don't know what to say," I admitted. "Sorry doesn't even seem to cover it, and I don't expect you to forgive me."

Scorp just sighed and didn't say anything, and for the first time in four years, I had no idea what was going on behind those pale grey eyes.

He seemed to feel the same, because he said: "I don't understand you."

"What?" I said again. When he didn't speak I said, "You mean why I did it? I don't want to make excuses for myself. I can't even remember it."

"What do you mean, you can't remember it?" he asked, momentarily distracted.

"Well, I was drunk. Like properly drunk," I said cautiously, "but like I said, I'm not making excuses. It was disgusting and it was wrong of me to do it. End of."

"Oh," he said. "Well, incidentally, no I didn't mean why you did it."

"You didn't?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"No," he told me, "I understand exactly why you did it. You've never really been drunk before, I hurt you –"

"You didn't hurt me," I protested – after a lot of thinking I had realised this. "It wasn't really you I was upset by – well, I could get over it, anyway. I think I was angry with my dad, and when he came at me –"

"Yeah," Scorp winced, "I really DON'T want the details. You were drunk for the first time, you were upset and angry and you've never been given that kind of attention before, especially from someone three years older than you, so your animal instinct kicked in. I understand that, Rose."

"Oh," I said, stunned.

"What I don't understand," he continued, "is why you didn't tell me. Why didn't you think we could get through this? I've known you for four years, Rose, and I've understood every single thing you've done until now. Did you not think our relationship could survive this? Didn't you trust me?"

"No," I sighed, almost laughing at how ridiculous this would be. "No, Scorpius, I trust you completely. I thought that maybe, if I didn't tell you, we could just part without heartbreak. You deserve someone better, Scorp. Someone who can be honest with you. And someone who can stay faithful."

"You thought that you could just tell me that we were never meant to be, and then just walk away without any heartbreak?" he exclaimed, incredulously. "You can't really have believed that, Rose. I know you."

I sighed. "Of course I didn't. It was just… wishful thinking or something. I hoped – stupidly, I know – that you wouldn't be hurt if you didn't know. But I know now that this isn't just something you can sweep under the carpet. Besides, you know me too well for that," I said, and I thought I saw a momentary ghost of a smile on his face. There was silence again, but it wasn't awkward; I felt more relaxed now we'd opened up to each other, like we were on the same page again. Then I remembered that Lucy had probably listened to this whole conversation from the other side of the bricks.

"Um… Luce?" I called tentatively and Scorp started: evidently he had forgotten she was on the other side of the wall. "Are you still there?"

"Er… yes?" she said sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you. I was trying not to listen, but…"

"It's fine," said Scorpius. "So… you knew?"

"Yeah," she admitted, embarrassed. "I had no idea she hadn't told you."

"When did she tell you?" he asked.

"I… er… made her some potion."

"Oh, I was going to ask about that," he said, relieved. "A baby is all we need in the middle of this."

For the first time since it happened, I giggled. It just sounded so funny in the context. Scorp realised too, and joined in, as did Lucy and soon we were collapsing in hysterics. Then I remembered what was happening and stopped abruptly. The others stopped too.

"You nearly died," Scorp whispered.

"I didn't even think about it. It was just the natural thing to do."

"You love me enough to take an Avada Kedavra for me without a second thought, and yet you and Cohen…" He didn't need to finish.

"I know," I said softly. "And I cannot tell you how much I wish I could rewind time."

More silence.

"Rose?" Lucy said tentatively. "Do you want to know why I was so upset when you told me?"

"Only if you want to tell me."

"Well… I had a friend. A best friend. She got involved with someone much older and ended up pregnant. He didn't want to know. She washed dishes in the Leaky Cauldron for a living with a baby to support at the age of fourteen and then she disappeared. I haven't seen her since."

This silence was awkward.

"I'm sorry," was all I could many times had that word passed my lips in the last hour?

Suddenly, we heard footsteps. My heart started racing.

"Hello?" Lucy called. "Help us, we're trapped and have no wands! Help!"

The footsteps stopped, and a muffled voice murmured an incantation I could not distinguish. Then there was the sound of shifting bricks and my hopes got up, but then I heard a hastily stifled gasp from Lucy – she had been Silenced: something was wrong. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up as the bricks shifted and a man and two accomplices strode intimidatingly through the gap. I had never seen this man before, but it was clear who he was from the descriptions I had heard from my parents over the years and the look on Scorpius's face at that moment.

"Incarcerous!" cried the man, and before I knew what was happening, ropes flew out of the end of his wand, binding me tightly and the force of it slammed my body against the wall. My head felt like it had split open; I slid down the wall, unable to support my weight, leaving a trail of blood behind me.

"That will teach you for being a filthy, blood traitor slut!" Lucius Malfoy spat contemptuously. He turned to leave. "Come along, Scorpius."


	19. Explanations

"Come on, Scorpius," Lucius Malfoy repeated when Scorp stayed frozen to the spot. "Leave the Mudblood to die, it's all she deserves."

"She's not a Mudblood," muttered Scorpius.

"What?" said Lucius sharply.

"She's a half-blood," Scorp told him quietly.

"Half-blood, Mudblood, blood traitor – they're all the same in my books," said Lucius dismissively. "And even worse after what she's done to you."

I was shocked, although I couldn't speak through the pain of my head. How could he possibly know? Nobody except Lucy had known until today, and the only people who knew were in the dungeons.

"How do you know?" demanded Scorpius finally.

Lucius sighed. "Well, I suppose you would have to find out one way or another."

"What do you mean?"

"I made her do it," Lucius said simply.

"…What?"

"Well, when Goyle's daughter, whatever her name is, what does it matter, mentioned that she'd seen you together, I knew something had to be done. We can't allow the pure blood of the Malfoys to be tainted, you know that. So on New Year's Eve I Imperiused the Finnigan boy to seduce her when I'd seen her looking at him when I was spying on you through the window. When she was unresponsive I put some ancient Dark enchantments on her. But it seems that my plan failed – even after she did that you can't help but defend her. So the time has come for more drastic action. Leave her to die, Scorpius. It's for your own good. I could just use the Avada Kedavra on her, but that would be too easy, wouldn't it Scorpius? She should suffer for thinking that she can even come close to such a noble pure-blood family."

This explained everything. Mabel Goyle, that child was as thick as two planks (unsurprising considering her parents were Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson) and never knew when to keep her mouth shut. She was always harassing Scorp – she fancied him – and wouldn't leave him alone the whole time we were going out. And it explained the possessed feeling I had when I was with Cohen that night, it explained his blank expression and lack of guilt when I know him to be a fairly nice person, it explained how I could not comprehend my behaviour that night. Yes, I have done things wrong in my life but up until that moment, I had been able to explain every one of them. That was the first thing I had ever done that was truly out of character.

Scorpius was dazed. When at last he said something it was: "Does my father know about this?"

Lucius gave a harsh, humourless laugh. "Hardly. You know he became a wimp after the war, wouldn't hurt a fly now."

"But I thought the war had taught you a lesson," whispered Scorp, a single tear streaking down his cheek.

"Pah," spat Lucius. "I know your parents teach you about Mudbloods being the same as us," he sent a jeering glance towards me, "but I'm not as weak as darling Draco," he sneered. "I may have sucked up to the Order after the war, but only because I didn't want to be chucked in Azkaban. I may have deserted the Dark Lord at the end of the war, but only for the safety of my wife and son. My beliefs haven't really changed. I just know better than to go shouting my mouth off about them. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I will not allow for a Mudblood to taint our ancient family line."

I could see Scorpius trembling with anger. "Rose is not a Mudblood! But even if she was, I would love her anyway!"

Then, something very curious happened. Lucius Malfoy's wand began to vibrate, only gently to begin with, but then so much that he had to tighten his grip to keep hold of it. Then it began to glow red from heat.

"Aaargh!" Lucius exclaimed, flustered, unable to stand the heat from his wand, and he dropped it clattering to the floor.

I looked at Scorpius in wonder.

"Did you just do that?" I asked slowly. "Did you just perform wandless magic?"

"I think I did," he replied, flabbergasted.

"You must really love this girl," called Lucy.

Lucius's face had turned scarlet from rage. However, he soon recovered. He walked over to where his wand was and picked it up, smirking. He waved it mockingly in front of Scorpius's face.

"What are you going to do now? There's no way you can do that again," he jeered. He turned to Lucy. "As for you, I was going to let you go, but you'll pay for that comment. Crucio!"

I was disgusted by the looks of savouring Lucius had on his face from Lucy's screams of agony.

"Aah, yes," he said softly. "I haven't done that in too long. I forgot how good it felt. But I'd better not over-do it, it will detract from the pleasure next time."

I don't think I have ever met a more unpleasant man. But then I never met Voldemort.

"Well, Scorpius, it doesn't look like I can change your mind. So see if this does."

He conjured more ropes from the end of his wand and tied up both Lucy, who was still trembling, and Scorpius.

"Watch your blood traitor friend die!" he cried. "And don't be hopeful that your Order friends will come and save you," he added to me.

Suddenly there was an almighty crash and sounds of the bricks breaking down again. Led by Draco Malfoy, a line of Order forces stormed in, including Mum, Dad and all my aunts and uncles. Mum gave a little shriek when she saw me, and Dad looked like he was about to throw up.

"But… D-Draco?" stammered Lucius. "H-How did you break it?"

"You forget how well I know you, Father," said Draco. "You remember how good I was at guessing your passwords as a child. Well, I haven't forgotten how fond you were of Pygmy Puffs."

Lucius turned scarlet again, this time in embarrassment as there were giggles from around the dungeon, some of them even coming from his two accomplices.

"Expelliarmus," Draco said lazily, and Lucius's wand and those of his accomplices flew across the room, caught by Uncle Harry. Now that it was safe, Mum ran over to me and started muttering incantations, conjuring up bandages and applying ointments to the cut on my head.

"You disgust me," spat Draco. "If I can accept my son's friends, why shouldn't you? The pure-blood supremacy ideas are so out of date now, how can you still believe in them? I am ashamed of you. You are no father of mine."

Lucius started whimpering.

"Give me one good reason not to kill you," whispered Draco.

"Draco… _please_… your own father?"

"Avada Kedavra."


	20. Reflections

I awoke and for a moment didn't know where I was. Then I realised, of course, that I was in the hospital wing. My head ached dully and I felt slightly overwhelmed by the scent of all the flowers by my bed – I seemed to have some from every aunt and uncle. Around my bed were Mum, Dad, Scorpius and, surprisingly, Draco.

"She's awake!" Mum shrieked.

"How are you feeling, Rosie?" Dad asked, concern spreading across his face.

"I'm fine," I mumbled. "How long was I asleep?"

"About two days," Mum told me. "We were beginning to worry… not surprising though, you had a pretty serious head injury. It's just lucky Draco got here when he did," she said, and both Mum and Dad smiled gratefully at him, although Dad looked slightly guilty and glanced at Scorp, who didn't say anything. "Come on, Ron, we'd better go and tell the others the good news," Mum said. "Everyone's waiting outside as you're only allowed four visitors at once, they're just as worried as we were. Come on, Ron," she said, a little more forcefully as she stamped on his foot and hissed "she'll obviously want to talk to the Malfoys alone, come on!"

I laughed, seeing through them instantly.

"You're so obvious," I teased them. "But yes, I would like to talk to Draco and Scorpius if that's ok Dad?"

"Of course it is," he said gently. Mum always tells me being a dad changed my dad; apparently he used to be an 'insensitive git,' but I'm such a Daddy's girl – he spoils me rotten and always thinks about my feelings.

So I was alone with the two remaining Malfoy men.

"So… Rose," Draco began. "We haven't really met, have we?"

I laughed. He had killed his father for trying to kill me, and we had never even had a conversation.

"Well, I think I made my feelings pretty clear in the cave, didn't I?" he said, and I laughed again. "If you can make my son happy, that's good enough for me."

"You killed him," I whispered.

Draco sighed. "Yes, I killed him," he said. "And don't regret it. It was him that got me into that mess in the first place, and him who wouldn't let me get out of it. I put up with him ruling my life for… eighteen years. After the Battle of Hogwarts, when he left part way through just to save his own skin, I never forgave him. Yes, he wanted to leave the Death Eaters, but his beliefs hadn't changed, he didn't exactly go and fight for the other side, did he? Your dad and your uncle saving my life definitely reshuffled my priorities. I ran away. I haven't spoken to him since. What I won't put up with is him trying to rule my son's life too."

There was a reflective pause. Then Draco spoke again.

"Rose, I am so sorry for all the pain my family has caused you. Scorpius told me everything my father did to you."

"It's ok," I told him wearily. "You aren't responsible for what your father did. And I just want to say thank you for your acceptance. I know you and my father weren't always the best of friends."

Draco smiled wryly. "Well, that was a long time ago. And we're grown-ups now, we can put it behind us."

I smiled again. "Thanks, Draco."

"You deserve it," he said. "I have never seen my son as happy as he has been in the last few months. But I should leave you to talk."

As Draco left and the door creaked shut behind him, there was silence; I was alone with Scorp. I realised that he hadn't said anything since I woke up.

"Hey," I said. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

"A couple of scratches," he replied, "but I'm fine now."

"Good," I smiled. "Look," I began, "I know that just because I was Imperiused, it doesn't mean that everything's ok. I didn't trust you enough to tell you, and that's not good enough in a relationship."

"I know," Scorp said sadly. "But however crazy it is, I still love you. When my Grandad said I would have to watch you die… and the last two days when you hadn't woken up, I thought… I thought… I was terrified of losing you."

"I know," I whispered. "But I'm here. And I don't intend to go anywhere any time soon."

And then I threw my arms around him and hugged him, like I never had before. All of our longing was thrown into it as we held each other as if we would never let go. Then we broke apart, and I leaned in to kiss him…

But he flinched away.

I sighed. "I know. We can't just go back to how we were like nothing's happened."

"Yeah," Scorp agreed. "There's too much pain, Rose. I love you, but let's repair our friendship first. That's enough for me."

A phrase stirred in my memory. "Enough," I agreed. "For now."

Scorpius grinned. "That's the Rose I know."

But ten years later, reflecting on this with my engagement ring on my finger, I know that some people are just made to be together. Scorp and me are two of those people. We are getting married in the morning.

I still wonder if there was anything I could have done. Some people can fight off the Imperius curse; wasn't my love for Scorp strong enough? My virginity is something I can never get back – your first time is meant to be special and I would have loved it to have been with Scorp, the man I intend to spend the rest of my life with. But Scorpius's trust is something I have got back and he has forgiven me completely. Maybe it is time for me to forgive myself.

* * *

_So there is is, the end of my first proper fanfiction... sniffle... yeah I wrote some others when I was about 12 or 13 but it was on a different site and I don't think they were very good..._

_I've had some amazing reviews, some of the people who stand out are **Rom**__antic .lover .x_, **skaterofthebooks**, **SistersOfOlympus **_and **Indi**__a'Te__amSt__arkid'J ______but __a huge th__ank you to everyone who reviewed __and st__ayed with me 'until the very end'_, I've h_ad some nice ch__ats with some of you __and you've helped me grow in confidence __as __a writer._

_______________________Of course I've __also h__ad some neg__ative reviews but th__at's fine bec__ause how else will I improve? Some people h__ave s__aid th__at the story moves too f__ast __and yes, I __agree, but th__at's just bec__ause I'm not __a very experienced writer __and I'm still le__arning. __a few people s__aid th__at the ch__ar__acters __act older th__an their __age which is prob__ably true too, I sometimes forget how old they __are. I w__anted them to be young enough for the cousins to still be __at school - I'm the oldest in my f__amily __and sometimes wish I h__ad __an older sister I could t__alk to, so I w__anted Lucy to be like th__at for Rose. __also, lots of people s__aid they found it difficult to believe th__at Dr__aco would kill Lucius but hopefully th__at's expl__ained in this ch__apter._

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________I just w__ant to s__ay th__ank you once more, wow over 50 reviews :O I h__ave __a few ide__as brewing for more f__anfiction so w__atch this sp__ace..._


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